NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are revolutionizing the way we perceive art and investors are taking notice.
Cryptography has lately been dominated by NFTs, which have shot to the forefront in the last year. By utilizing cryptographically unique tokens, digital objects can be made scarce in real life, and artists are taking advantage of the technology.
NFT market trading volume exploded in 2021, generating about $25 billion worth of trading volume, and momentum has continued this year as well. This list contains some of the most expensive single-NFT sales to date (in U.S. dollars), ranging from Beeple’s one-off pieces to an array of CryptoPunks avatars, which have all been sold throughout the last year.
1. Everydays: The First 5000 Days: $69.3 Million
Among the most expensive NFTs ever sold (and among the most expensive artworks ever sold) is EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS. It was the first time that Christie’s had ever sold a purely digital artwork. The work was by famed digital artist Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann.
In the NFT, you can find 5,000 of Beeple’s earlier works, demonstrating his evolution as an artist throughout his career. The purchase was made by Vignesh “Metakovan” Sundaresan, who initially remained anonymous, but later revealed his real name.
“The point was to show Indians and people of color that they, too, could be patrons, that crypto was an equalizing power between the West and the Rest, and that the global south was rising,” Metakovan said.
Justin Sun, the CEO and founder of Tron, bid an impressive $60.2 million on the piece before being beaten by Sundaresan at the last moment.
2. Clock: $52.7 Million
The Clock NFT was created by artist Pak, who is well known for his innovative token models and gamification applications that fuel his NFT projects.
The dynamic NFT is a counter showing Julian Assange’s total jail time since he was arrested. It raised just over 16,593 ETH ($52.7 million) from the AssangeDAO, which was formed to raise money for his legal defense. The Wau Holland Stiftung Moral Courage Project provided Assange’s defense after Pak donated funds to the project.
Pak launched Merge in December 2021, another NFT with revenues of $91.8 million during its sale period, though it isn’t one single NFT. Each of the nearly 29,000 buyers received a dynamic NFT based on their purchase of “mass units”, which can be combined by getting other NFTs from the project.
3. HUMAN ONE: $28.9 Million
Although Beeple tops this list, he is no one-hit-wonder in the world of NFT. It depicts a person in a spacesuit walking through an ever-changing environment on a sculpture with digital screens on all sides, HUMAN ONE, which he unveiled in late 2021.
In addition to the physical artwork, the piece also includes an NFT deed of ownership, which reflects Beeple’s expanding artistic ambitions beyond the purely digital canvas. In November 2021, Human One sold for $25 million at Christie’s auction, but after all fees, it fetched $28.9 million. In the end, Ryan Zurrer, formerly with Polychain Capital, won the deal.
4. CryptoPunk #5822: $23.7 Million
CryptoPunks represent a large percentage of this list’s entries. In 2017, Larva Labs, a pair of Canadian developers, gave away 10,000 Ethereum-based avatars.
Despite this inauspicious beginning, they have since become the go-to project for NFT profile pictures, inspiring a whole industry of followers, including the Bored Ape Yacht Club. As a result, they’ve made dozens of million-dollar sales, including the one you’re seeing right now.
The CryptoPunk #5822 coin in February 2022 sold for $23.7 million worth of ETH. Only nine alien avatars were in the collection, including this one, which was bought by Deepak Thapliyal, the CEO of Chain, a cloud-based blockchain platform.
5.CryptoPunk #7523: $11.8 Million
In the past, CryptoPunks NFT was higher up our list, however, the above Punk sale surpassed that record. This CryptoPunk #7523 alien is also rare, like that one. Shalom Meckenzie, DraftKings’ largest shareholder, paid $11.8 million for the mask at Sotheby’s “Natively Digital” auction. The mask’s medical mask attribute also makes it unique and topical in these COVID-influenced times.
“I really wanted this particular CryptoPunk,” Meckenzie explains. “It is part of the alien collection, which is the rarest of the punks, and the only alien that has a mask. I thought it was symbolic of Covid and the popularization of NFTs.”
6. TPunk #3442: $10.5 Million
Since CryptoPunks was so successful, we have seen a huge variety of knock-offs-from Solana to Stacks to Algorand.
It is not uncommon for Tron to have its own CryptoPunks copycat, and while TPunks NFTs normally do not sell for much-the cheapest of them goes for just $130 as of this writing this one in particular sold for a considerable amount. TPUNK #3442 was sold for 120 million TRX, or $10.5 million worth, in August, and Justin Sun purchased it.
Was it really necessary to spend $10.5 million on this TPunk? Perhaps not, considering the prices of the others. However, the man is swimming in TRX and it appears that at the time, he wished to make a statement amid a surging NFT market. Thus, he did so. According to Sun, he donated the NFT to APENFT, a Tron-based initiative that tokenizes artwork.
7. CryptoPunk #4156: $10.26 Million
The CryptoPunk #4156 coin changed hands in December 2021 for an eye-popping price, but it has an even more intriguing aspect: it was sold by someone who became famous in crypto under a pseudonym, but later rejected the brand name he chose for the coin.
During the burgeoning NFT industry, Punk 4156 became famous for buying the NFT for a record-breaking $1.25 million worth of ETH in 2021 where Beeple even incorporated the image in his artwork. After becoming a thought leader in space, 4156 launched Nouns, an NFT project that builds open-source IP. It has since gained a lot of traction in the market.
In the course of the year, 4156 became disillusioned with CryptoPunks as the creators attempted to snuff out derivative projects by handling commercialization rights inappropriately. A little under a year later, 4156 sold the NFT for approximately 8x the USD value.
8. CryptoPunk #5577: $7.7 Million
In February 2022, CryptoPunk #5577 was sold for 2,501 ETH, worth $7.7 million. That was the second-highest sale for CryptoPunks. It is believed that Robert Leshner, CEO of Compound Finance, purchased the ape with a cowboy hat.
9. CryptoPunk #7804: $7.56 Million
CEO of design software company Figma, Dylan Field, is responsible for selling cryptopunk #7804, the fifth-most expensive NFT in history. A cool 4,200 Ethereum was acquired in March 2021, at a price of just over $7.5 million.
Another one of just nine alien CryptoPunks, it also sports three accessories: a forward cap, shades, and a pipe. Indeed, it’s the only alien CryptoPunk to have a pipe or a forward cap.
10. CryptoPunk #3100: $7.51 Million
When we said this list is full of CryptoPunks, we weren’t kidding. The cryptopunk #3100 hat is made of 4,200 ETH ($7.51 million) and sold for 4,200 ETH ($7.51 million) in March 2021.
11. Ringers #109: $7.12 Million
In the summer and early fall of 2021, the Ethereum generative art project Art Blocks experienced a speculative frenzy, in which a number of pieces sold for millions of dollars as people recognized the potential for fine art.
Among the collection’s most valuable projects are Ringers by artist Dmitri Cherniak, which is included in Tyler Hobbs’ Fidenza line. Ringers #109 was the largest sale in Art Blocks so far, with a purchase price of 2,100 ETH or $7.12 million in early October 2021. The acquisition was made by Starry Night Capital, an NFT fund with a $100 million fund financing co-founded by Three Arrows Capital and the pseudonymous collector Vincent Van Dough.
12. Right-Click and Save As Guy: $7.09 Million
According to his SuperRare profile, XCOPY’s work explores death, dystopia, and apathy through his distorted visual loops, but the work sometimes mirrors the NFT scene as a whole and he has created several invaluable 1:1 animated animations for collectors.
With a throbbing, glitchy avatar that you can just imagine is someone complaining about a non-free text, Right-Click and Save As Guy brings to light one of the most common criticisms of NFT artwork: that anyone can copy a picture. Previously sold for $174,000 in February 2021, it sold for nearly $7.1 million in December 2021.
It is interesting to note that the NFT was purchased by Cozomo de’ Medici, which has been referred to as Snoop Dogg’s ‘alter ego’ and ‘pseudonym.’ A second XCOPY piece was purchased prior to this one by Cozomo for $3.9 million in September 2021.
13. CROSSROAD: $6.66 Million
NFT CROSSROAD is a design by highly regarded digital artist Beeple. This image features a Donald Trump-like figure laying in a defeated heap with profanities written across his naked body, thus promoting anti-Trump sentiment. The artwork did not always look like that, however; it was designed to change depending on the outcome of the 2020 elections. It would have shown Trump wearing a crown and marching through flames if he’d won.
This 6.66 million sale of the NFT between Pablorfraile (a Twitter user) and another unknown buyer was facilitated by Nifty Gateway, a popular marketplace for digital collectibles.
After being originally purchased, the NFT was sold for roughly 10x its original price four months later.
14. CryptoPunk #8857: $6.63 Million
This CryptoPunks NFT was just barely purchased at a sale price of 6.63 million dollars (or 2,000 ETH) in September 2021. Previously, CryptoPunk #8857 sold for just $1,717 in May 2018, which is a zombie avatar with 3D red-and-blue glasses.
15. All-Time High in the City: $6.2 Million
Here’s another XCOPY, this time with a title that feels right at home in the crypto-community. After selling for less than $2.9 million (then 1,000 ETH), this pulsating, animated image procured nearly $6.2 million (1,630 ETH) in January 2022, just a few months after its previous sale for $2.9 million (then 1,000 ETH).