There were few things as popular as expensive NFTs last year. Everyone was talking about it, and everyone wanted to get started with NFTs, celebrities or artists as well as ordinary people. It goes without saying that NFT were the crypto world’s darling back then, as well as the metaverse.
Luckily, NFTs are still valuable since the reason why they exist is more taken into account as of now. People become more aware of the underlying technology and benefits of NFTs. Known to be secure ownership, provenance tracking, and programmability, their value as a unique asset class continues to grow. Additionally, the increased interest in the intersection of art and technology has led to more experimentation and innovation in the NFT space.
This has expanded the possibilities of what can be created and sold as an NFT. Overall, the understanding and appreciation of NFTs is evolving, making them more valuable than ever before.
Non-fungible tokens have taken the art world by storm, revolutionizing the way we think about and value digital art. The market for NFTs has exploded in recent years, with record-breaking sales reaching billions of dollars. From crypto art to collectible digital assets, NFTs have become a new asset class attracting both artists and collectors alike. NFT’s sales were estimated at $10.7 billion for the third quarter of 2021 (Source: DappRadar).
This number is to grow in view of the exponential evolution of this market. NFT owes its success in part to the Covid 19 crisis, which was a gas pedal of early NFT adoption around the world.
Why expensive NFTs were so popular?
If the NFT, in other words the non-fungible token, has become so popular, it is because it was a digital revolution. Because an NFT is not interchangeable and certified through the Blockchain mechanism, it has restored value to what is called a “dematerialized good“or a “digital asset“. The power of NFTs also lies in its rarity, uniqueness, and the fact that it is almost impossible to conterfeit.
In the “most expensive” category, we almost always find artistic NFTs, which is why NFT’s sales are estimated in billions of dollars. To grasp the size of this market, it is fundamental to draw up an exhaustive inventory of the most expensive NFTs sold in the world.
1- The Merge – $91 800 000
Artist: Pak
Beeple’s artwork “Every day” was before the end of 2021 the most expensive NFT art sold, until the artist Pak decides otherwise. The artwork “The Merge” is an NFT sold for the outrageous sum of $ 91.8 Million via Nifty Gateway. However, the difference lies upon the fact that this NFT was not bought by one, but rather 29,983 people, so “the Merge” sold out being split into 312,686 coins distributed to buyers.
2- Beeple Collection _ Every day: The First Five Thousand Days – $69 346 250
Artist: Mike Winkelmann aka Beeple
This Beeple’s artwork was the most expensive sold NFT-art until the end of 2021. “Everyday” NFT is a painting that collects all 5,000 images he drew over 5,000 days in a row. This unique piece was auctioned by the famous Christie house for the tidy sum of $69 million. This NFT was bought by Vignesh Sundaresan who forestalled Justin Sun, founder of Tron.
3- Clock – $52 740 000
Artist: Julian Assange and Pak
This expensive token was created to support a social cause. Created by Wikileaks founder Assange, this NFT represents a digital counter of the days Julian Assange spent in London’s Belmarsh prison, awaiting extradition to the United States on espionage charges. “Clock” was intended to raise funds to castigate Assange’s imprisonment and was auctioned off for over $52 million. 10,000 AssangeDAO members owned a share of this NFT as with “The Merge” NFT. Proceeds from the auction were donated to the Holland Foundation, which has been supporting Assange’s defense. This NFT initiative joins Edward Snowden’s initiative in favor of freedom of speech.
4- Human One – $28 985 000
Artist: Mike Winkelmann aka Beeple
“Human One” is the second most expensive artwork of Beeple, who is second in the ranking of artists with the highest NFT sales volume. Auctioned through Christie’s for $28.98 million, “Human One” is a life-size 3D NFT that features an individual sporting a spacesuit that changes color (bronze or silver) according to the artist’s wishes. Beeple told he will upgrade this artwork throughout its life, so that this piece of art remains dynamic and crosses time.
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5- CryptoPunk #5822 – $23 700 000
Artists: Matt Hall and John Watkinson, Larva Labs’s directors
This NFT is the most expensive of the entire CryptoPunks collection of this studio. Cryptopunks are also popular because they convey a particular nostalgia of the 80s, pop, punk, super pixelated video games. In this collection of 10,000 cryptopunks, the rarest coins are those that have the most unique characteristics. Cryptopunks basically come in humanoid forms, and some of the rarest pieces are zombies, monkeys and aliens. Aliens cryptopunks are the most expensive in this case due to the fact that there are only 9 of them in the 10,000 collection.
This cryptopunk #5822 is one of the nine aliens and wears a blue bandana. Its value mainly comes from the fact that it is an alien.
6- CryptoPunk #7523 – $11 800 000
Artists: Matt Hall and John Watkinson, Larva Labs’s directors
Previously the highest in price of the cryptopunks collection, the value of cryptopunk #7523 comes from the fact that it has extremely rare characteristics: it is the only crypto that wears a surgical mask, which is eminently reminiscent of the pandemic, and it is one of the 9 super rare aliens. And in art, the rarer and more unique, the more expensive it is.
7- CryptoPunk #4156 – $10 350 000
Artists: Matt Hall and John Watkinson, Larva Labs’s directors
This cryptopunk is unique because it belongs to exclusives: it is one of the 24 cryptopunks monkeys, and this NFT is adorned with a blue bandana and is estimated to be worth $10.35 million. Fun fact about this NFT is its value jumped in just almost one month from $1.17 million to $10.35 million.
8- CryptoPunk # 7804 – $7 560 000
Artists: Matt Hall and John Watkinson, Larva Labs’s directors
This is the third of the most expensive NFTs from Larva Labs if we use ether tokens. This cryptopunk is one of the 9 aliens punks, which hence explains its exponential value. It has been fleshed out with other characteristics that make it unique: he smokes a pipe, wears a beret and sunglasses, which makes him an extremely rare piece. In the collection of 10,000 cryptopunks, there are only 378 pipe smokers, 317 with shade variations and 254 wearing forward caps.
This auctioned work was purchased by Dylan Field, CEO of Figma, a software company.
9- CryptoPunk # 3100 – $7 510 000
Artists: Matt Hall and John Watkinson, Larva Labs’s directors
It goes without saying that Larva Labs artworks are establishing themselves in the NFT-art market. Cryptopunk # 3100 is so expensive because it’s the only punk who wears a blindfold.
Sold at 7.51 million dollars, the buyer of this crypto put it up for sale for a staggering sum of 90.5 millions dollars, so 35,000 ether. If anyone bought it, this crypto would become the most expensive piece of digital art sold in the world.
10- Right-click and Save As guy – $7 090 000
Artist: XCopy
The creations of London artist XCopy use a decomposed aesthetic similar to the works of the painter Basquiat, but in digital form. XCopy mixes in his artworks kinds of distortions and noises on the image, characteristics of bugs or computer failure. These NFTs are highly appreciated and are typically sold for several million dollars. This one sold a month ago via SuperRare for 1,600 ether, so $7.09 million, was purchased by Snoop Dogg’s NFT alias “Cozomo de Medici”.
11- Ringers #109 – $6 930 000
Artist: Art Blocks
This piece of Art Blocks collection was sold for $6.93 million or 2,100 ether. This Art Block collection gathers a total of 99,000 NFTs. The Art Block NFTs are so popular because they are generative-styled collectibles, especially on demand art.
12- CryptoPunk # 8857 – $6 630 000
Artists: Matt Hall and John Watkinson, Larva Labs’s directors
This cryptopunk is also one of the rarest in the collection, because it is a zombie, and zombies are almost as rare in Larva Labs cryptopunks collection as aliens and monkeys. As of now, we have no information on either the buyer or the seller is (the seller is not always the artist of an NFT, the seller can be the previous buyer).
13- Crossroard – $6 600 000
Artist: Mike Winkelmann aka Beeple
This Beeple’s NFT is his third most expensive. This cartoonish artistic piece of Donald Trump called “crossroad” highlights a succession of messages hostile to him. This very original artwork was designed to change depending on the outcome of the US presidential election. If the outgoing president had won the election, the final facet of the work would have featured Donald Trump wearing a crown on his head and going through flames.
14- All Time High in the City – $6 200 000
Artist: XCopy
This XCopy NFT got sold in January 2022. The animated artwork portrays the ferryman of the underworld carrying a man across the river Styx.
15- FreeRoss – $6 120 000
Artist: Ross Ulbricht
Ross Ulbricht’s inaugural NFT named FreeRoss earned an astounding $6.12 million. This happened in December 2021 after being auctioned for six days. The proceeds of this Ross Ulbricht Genesis NFT Collection contributed to the creator legal defense but also to establish a donor-advised fund named Art4Giving. The purpose of the fund is to alleviate the suffering of incarcerated individuals and their families.
16- Ocean Front – $6 000 000
Artist: Mike Winkelmann aka Beeple
This other Beeple’s creation is emblematic and significant for the message it carries. It is an artwork that tends to portray the stakes of climate challenge facing the world. The tilted tree and the mushrooms standing above containers, all in the middle of an almost oily ocean, reminiscent of oil disasters, are meaningful in this time more than shaken by climate change. The owner of this symbolic artwork purchased for the tidy sum of 6 million dollars is the founder of Tron Foundation, Justin Sun. This sale’s profits were donated to a non-profit organization called the Open Earth Foundation which fights against global warming and climate change.
17- Ringers # 879 – $5 900 000
Artist: Dmitri Cherniak
In August 2021, Three Arrows Capital, cryptocurrency investment firm based in Singapore bought the NFT Ringers #879. This unique digital asset was part of Dmitri Cherniak’s generative project. Ringers is a highly regarded collection within the NFT community and is one of the most popular generative art collections on Art Blocks Curated. Owning a Ringers NFT gives both a status symbol and a smart investment in the future of generative NFT art.
18- CryptoPunk # 5217 – $5 440 000
Artists: Matt Hall and John Watkinson, Larva Labs’s directors
Also belonging to the 24 monkeys of the cryptopunks, this one sports a red cap and a golden necklace, which makes it quite different from other cryptopunks. It is all about the details. It was purchased in July for the sum of 5.44 million dollars.
19- World Wide Web Source Code – $5 430 000
Author: Tim Berners-Lee
The Word Wide Web (WWW) created in 1990 is based on an information-sharing resource that can facilitate communication between scientists and allow rapid access to information, regardless of where they are located.
Tim Berners-Lee therefore put the source code of his WWW platform up for sale in an NFT form, which of course questioned many people. This work sold for 5.43 million dollars and called “This Changes Everything” is primarily an artistic reproduction of the actual real source code. The code on the artwork contains errors and it is not technically the same source code.
20- CryptoPunk # 7252 – $5 330 000
Artists: Matt Hall and John Watkinson, Larva Labs’s directors
This crypto is one of the only 9 aliens CryptoPunks, and has battle red eyes and hair, a golden earring, and a beard. First bought for the sum of 2.5 million dollars, this crypto was then in August 2021 resold by its owner for the sum of 5.33 million dollars, turned out to be a really nice investment.
21- A Coin for the Free Man – $5 300 000
Artist: XCopy
This is another XCopy’s creation. The artist sold it for 5.3 million dollars. This is as well one of the most expensive NFTs.
22- Stay Free – $5 270 000
Artist: Edward Snowden, an American computer scientist and whistleblower
This NFT is a textual portrayal of its own artist Edward Snowden in connection with the US Court of Appeals ruling on the NSA phone call tapes case.
This very symbolic and representative artwork defending freedom of speech in the United States was auctioned off by the artist himself and was purchased for the price of $ 5.27 million. Benefits from this auction went to the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a non-profit organization that fights for freedom of speech.
23- CryptoPunk # 2338 – $4 400 000
Artists: Matt Hall and John Watkinson, Larva Labs’s directors
It goes without saying that CryptoPunks dominate the NFTs market. Established in 2017, The CryptoPunks is the highest priced collection in the NFT market.
This Punk is one of the 88 zombies of the 10,000 cryptopunks collection. He is also one of the 4 zombies to have a hawk, which therefore makes him more expensive.
24- Jack Dorsey’s first tweet – $2 900 000
Author: Jack Dorsey, Twitter and Square CEO and Founder
As in expensive NFTs, this NFT presenting itself as an important technological relic, the auctions were still underway since March 2021. This is the very first tweet in history, made by Jack Dorsey who is the CEO and founder of the social network Twitter.
Sina Estavi submitted this NFT. He is an entrepreneur and CEO of Bridge Oracle. It was at the staggering sum of 2.5 million dollars and someone purchased it for 2.9 million dollars. The price has improperly dropped since then.
25- Rick and Morty collection – $2 300 000
Artist: Justin Roiland, Rick et Morty TV show’s author
This collection called “Smintons” by artist Justin Roiland is a caricature from the animated TV show The Simpsons. A fraction of the profits linked to the sale of this expensive NFT helped supporting a philanthropic action: assist the homeless in Los Angeles city.
26- Lands on Axie Infinity – $1 600 000
Creator: Sky Mavis Game Studio of the ultra-popular blockchain game Axie Infinity
On a blockchain, the game mode facilitates the exchange of tokens with cryptocurrency. This allows you to grant yourself with various advantages in the game. In Axie Infinity for instance, it is a matter of building worlds, of forming creatures, art, etc. An Axie Infinity player is able to build kingdoms or organize the lives of other creatures in Lunacia Empire. Building kingdoms obviously requires the purchase of plots of land in the game. In this context, we are therefore referring to virtual lands, in which players invest, hoping to resell them at a higher price later, as in real life, but at the same time, relying and betting on the growing success of the game. An example of one of the most expensive NFTs.
27 – CryptoPunk # 6965 – $1 440 000
Artists: Matt Hall and John Watkinson, Larva Labs’s directors
This punk is one of the 24 monkeys in the 10,000 CryptoPunks collection, and rarity means high price. This NFT was sold in February for 1.8 million dollars, so 800 ETH. Since it was put up for sale again, its price has climbed to 1,500 ETH, or just over 6 million dollars.
28- CryptoPunk # 2890 – $1 090 000
Artists: Matt Hall and John Watkinson, Larva Labs’s directors
We find this punk rather in the 9 aliens category of the cryptopunks collection and this one is worth 1.09 million dollars. This is also one of the most expensive NFTs.
29- Dragon CryptoKitty – $1 080 000
Artist: Dapper Labs
Closely embracing the Tamagotchi years, long before the Internet was adopted by the whole Earth. This Blockchain game is based on collecting cryptokitties, therefore digital kitten tokens in which each have specific traits, according to the NFT principle. The difference between Cryptopunks for example and cryptokitties is that cryptokitties holders can combine their cryptokitties cards to develop new attributes and functionalities. Cryptokitties have properly constitute the beginnings of NFTs. They were a colossal success and greatly participated in the adoption of expensive NFTs.
