Early YouTube Hit Becomes an NFT

'Leave Britney Alone' has attracted a $21K bid
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 12, 2021 6:05 PM CDT

A viral video from the early days of YouTube is the latest piece of digital history to return as a non-fungible token. The "Leave Britney Alone" video from 2007 has gone on sale as an NFT—a certified original verified via the same technology behind cryptocurrencies—and has attracted a bid of 10 Ethereum, the equivalent of around $21,000, Nylon reports. Its creator, Chris Crocker, helped launch the "Free Britney" movement, reports Mediaite. He describes the video as a "piece of Internet and pop culture history" and says it was "the first viral video to get mass mainstream coverage. "I made this video as a gender-bending teenage high school dropout in my grandparent's bedroom," Crocker writes in the listing. "I had no idea the impact its message would have, years later, maybe society is finally starting to get it." (The Winklevoss twins are a big part of the NFT craze.)

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