KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 ― The picture of a US girl, whose toddler photograph turned her into an internet sensation, will now be sold by her mother for thousands of dollars as a non-fungible token (NFT).

The picture was taken by Chloe Clem's mother Katie, who videoed the then two-year-old giving an unimpressed reaction to a surprise Disneyland trip in 2013.

The image has since become a popular meme for anyone expressing concern.

NFT is a way of owning the original digital image.

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According to the BBC, an NFT provides a digital certificate of ownership for the piece, and allows original versions of popular online content - such as viral memes and tweets - to be sold as if they were physical pieces of art.

In many cases, the artist may retain the copyright of their work, so they can continue to produce and sell copies of it, but the buyer owns the “original” of it.

Some people compare it to buying an autographed print, and collectors have said they value the “bragging rights” of owning the original.

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The video featuring her two daughters reacting to the Disneyland surprise in September 2013 was uploaded by Katie.

One of the girls, Lily, started crying and the camera panned over to Chloe where she made her cute little buck-toothed side-eye face.

The video has been watched more than 20 million times, while the image of Chloe's reaction became an internet sensation.

“I opened up Tumblr and there were just pages and pages of Chloe's face,” Katie told the portal.

“It was very weird, very overwhelming. I had my family, friends sending me these memes - till this day they still send me the memes of Chloe they see on the internet.”

Now the Utah family has decided to auction off the image as an NFT with bids starting at 5 Ethereum - a form of cryptocurrency worth roughly US$15,000 (RM62,820).

Katie said that after learning about the NFT market, selling the meme 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.”

Katie said she would like to use any money made from the sale to help pay for her daughters' education.

“Chloe is like, 'I'd like to buy a horse, I'd like to build a Walt Disney World,' but I'd just like to put her through college,” she says.

Chloe now has 531,000 followers on Instagram, and has even featured in a Google advert in Brazil.