'Side-Eyeing Chloe' NFT goes under the hammer as meme creators cash in on fame

Chloe's mum says money raised from the sale will go toward her education.
Chloe's mum says money raised from the sale will go toward her education. Photo credit: YouTube

Another famous internet meme is going under the hammer as a non-fungible token (NFT), with 'Side-Eyeing Chloe' the latest to be offered for sale.

Chloe Clem was nearly three years old when she became internet famous after her mum, Katie, uploaded a video to YouTube featuring her and sister Lily.

The 2013 video, shot in the family car, captured the reactions of the sisters as they were told they were missing school to go to Disneyland. The original video has over 20 million views.

Lily was overcome and started crying, while Chloe looked less than impressed when the camera panned to her making, as her mum described, "her cute little buck-toothed side-eye face".

A still image of that moment has since been used millions of times on social media to convey a look of concern or of being unimpressed.

NFTs are stored on a blockchain and record ownership of a digital item, in this case an NFT created from that still image of Chloe, who's now 10 years old.

The market for the digital assets has exploded in 2021, with an image of a rock selling for NZ$1.83 million in August and, earlier this month, CryptoPunk #8857 - a pixelated, computer-generated image - selling for nearly NZ$9.5 million.

Anyone can still view or download the pictures or even make their own copy of it, but only the buyer can identify themselves as the owner and resell it.

But Clem said after learning about NFTs, selling the moment was a "no brainer".

"It's a cool opportunity, especially if there's a Chloe fan out there who loves this meme they'll be able to own it. Even Chloe has said 'that's pretty cool' - it's a typical 10-year-old thing to say," she told the BBC.

After the original video and meme went viral, Buzzfeed described Chloe as "the patron saint of Tumblr" and "the queen and goddess of the internet".

However that has yet to translate into the NFT world, with the 'Side-Eyeing Chloe' auction failing to register a single bid yet.

That means Kiwis looking to get into the NFT game could pick up an iconic part of the internet for the starting price of just five ethereum, the equivalent of around NZ$22,200.

That auction ends tomorrow morning, NZ time.

Clem said any money raised from the sale would be put towards paying for the sisters' education.

Other internet memes have raised significant sums of money when auctioned.

The original 'Charlie bit my finger' video was sold as an NFT for US$760,000 earlier this year after racking up nearly 883 million views on YouTube.

The new owner had the rights to remove the video, showing three year old Harry Davies-Carr putting his finger in the mouth of his one year old brother Charlie, but chose to let it remain on the platform.

And Zoe Roth, who became known as 'Disaster Girl' when she was pictured in front of a burning building with a smirk on her face, sold an NFT of the original image for over US$500,000.