10+ of the most expensive NFTs ever sold
Non-fungible tokens, better known simply as NFTs, exploded in popularity in 2021 when cryptocurrency markets were red hot and coins like BTC and ETH hit new record high prices. Many crypto investors achieved significant wealth during this time, and some of them seemed to diversify their portfolios with NFTs.
NFT investors borrowed the term “blue chip” from the stock markets to refer to collectives such as CryptoPunks and the Bored Ape Yacht Club. “Blue chip” investments are considered safe and reliable, which may not be the first words that come to mind when most people think of NFTs. When the crypto markets crashed in 2022, the value of many NFT collections took a big hit, but this has not stopped the most dedicated collectors from buying more NFTs.
While it remains to be seen whether NFTs will become long-term investments, there is no shortage of investors willing to spend millions of dollars on these digital works of art. In this article, we will take a look at the most expensive NFTs ever sold. Were the buyers of these NFTs early adopters of an extremely lucrative sector, or were they wasting millions of dollars on a speculative bubble?
- “Everydays: the First 5000 Days” by Beeple – $69.3 million
- “Clock” by Pak – $52.7 million
- “Human One” by Beeple – $28.9 million
- CryptoPunk #5822 – $23.7 million
- XCOPY’s “Right Click and Save as Guy” – $7 million
- Ringer #109 – $6.9 million
- “Crossroad” by Beeple – $6.6 million
- World Wide Web source code – $5.4 million
- “Stay Free” by Edward Snowden – $5.2 million
- Bored Ape Yacht Club #8817 – $3.4 million
What is the most expensive NFT?
Below is the list of the 11 most expensive NFTs of all time and some context on why these NFTs were so expensive. Can you guess how much the most expensive NFT ever sold for?
1. “Everydays: the First 5000 Days” by Beeple – $69.3 million
Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple, is an acclaimed digital artist who rose to prominence with his “Everydays” series of artwork. Beeple has created and released an artwork for the Everydays series every single day since May 2007. The artist auctioned off a collage of the first 5,000 artworks in this series as an NFT piece called “The First Five Thousand Days”.
The piece fetched an incredible $69.3 million at a Christie’s auction, making it at the time the most expensive piece of digital art ever sold. It also holds the record as the most expensive NFT ever sold. The piece was bought by Singapore-based programmer and cryptocurrency investor Vignesh Sundaresan.
2. “Clock” by Pak – $52.7 million
Pak is an anonymous artist who is one of the most famous artists in the NFT space. Their “Clock” NFT sold for over $52 million. However, that wasn’t quite enough to make it the most expensive NFT of all time.
Clock is a piece of art that changes over time to reflect the number of days WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been in prison. The artwork was purchased by AssangeDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization raising money for Julian Assange’s legal campaign. All proceeds from the sale of Clock went to the Wau Holland Foundation, an organization that supports Julian Assange’s defense.
3. “Human One” by Beeple – $28.9 million
Beeple, who we’ve already covered on this list, auctioned off its Human One video sculpture and accompanying NFT for close to $29 million through auction house Christie’s. The physical object consists of four screens, which create a 3D effect. The artwork shows an astronaut walking through different landscapes. The piece is designed to be updated periodically by Beeple with new images, so it will be interesting to see how it evolves over time.
4. CryptoPunk #5822 – $23.7 million
CryptoPunks is an NFT collection released by Larva Labs in June 2017, when NFTs were barely on anyone’s radar. Interested users were able to create CryptoPunks for free, with the only expense being transaction costs charged by the Ethereum network. The collection consists of 10,000 unique pixelated avatars that were generated from a pool of traits of varying rarity.
The collection has been highly influential, as most profile picture or “PFP” NFT collections borrow heavily from CryptoPunks. One such example is Bored Ape Yacht Club, which has actually managed to surpass CryptoPunks in terms of price floors. Yuga Labs, the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, acquired the intellectual property related to CryptoPunks from Larva Labs in 2022.
However, top-end CryptoPunks still reign supreme when it comes to PFP NFT collections and are a coveted status symbol in the crypto community. CryptoPunk #5822, which has the eighth rarest combination of characteristics in the collection, sold for a whopping $23.7 million in February 2022. The buyer of the most expensive CryptoPunk was Deepak Thapliyal, who is the CEO of the Chain blockchain project.
5. “Right click and save as guy” by XCOPY – $7 million
“Right click and save as guy” is an animated artwork from XCOPY, one of the most prominent NFT artists. The piece was purchased by NFT collector “Cozomo de Medici” for $7 million.
The artwork’s title, as well as the description, which reads “Why buy it when I can right-click and save as?” obviously wondering about NFT critics. People who are not that excited about NFTs often mock NFTs by saying that they can simply “right click and save” any NFT they want, no matter how valuable or rare it may be.
It’s pretty clear that NFT collectors don’t think this argument holds water, as evidenced by the $7 million price tag fetched by this ironic NFT.
6. Ringer #109 – $6.9 million
“Ringers” is an NFT collection created by Dmitri Cherniak on Art Block’s generative art platform.
On Art Blocks, artists publish code that produces generative art. Users interested in the project can pay with crypto to have the code generate a unique piece of art which is then minted as an NFT.
The Ringers Collection, consisting of 1,000 unique pieces, is one of the most famous examples of generative art represented by NFTs. The collection’s most expensive piece is #109, which sold for $6.9 million in October 2021. The piece was purchased by an unknown collector who owns several pieces from notable Art Blocks collections.
7. “Crossroad” by Beeple – $6.6 million
Beeple embraced NFTs starting in 2020 and quickly found a lot of success in the space. His “Crossroad” animation, which features a grotesque depiction of former US President Donald Trump, sold for $6.6 million. At the time of the February 2021 sale, Crossroad was the most expensive NFT ever auctioned.
8. World Wide Web code – $5.4 million
World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee auctioned off an NFT representing the original source code for the World Wide Web. The NFT was sold through an auction held by Sotheby’s, fetching a price of $5.4 million.
Of course, NFT does not represent ownership of the World Wide Web itself. It is a symbolic symbol commemorating an important event in the history of the internet. NFT represents 9555 lines of code, as well as a visual animation of the code.
9. “Stay Free” by Edward Snowden – $5.2 million
Stay Free is an NFT by whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked classified information about the US National Security Agency’s global surveillance programs. Snowden is currently living in exile in Russia, and is wanted in the United States on charges of violating the Espionage Act and theft of government property.
The artwork features a portrait of Snowden on top of a court ruling that found the NSA broke the law with its mass surveillance. All of the proceeds from the sale went to the foundation Trykkefritheten.
The NFT was purchased by PleasrDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization that purchases notable NFTs and often engages in charitable activities.
10. BAYC #8817 – $3.4 million
BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club) is one of the most successful NFT collections of all time, and still has a significant floor price. Currently, the cheapest BAYC NFT available for sale will set you back a whopping 76 ETH (about $92,000 at the time of writing).
The BAYC collection follows the plan created by CryptoPunks, where an algorithm generates thousands of unique avatars and adorns them with attributes of varying rarity.
However, the BAYC project went the extra mile, giving holders of NFTs from the collection access to exclusive rooms and benefits. There is also a cryptocurrency called ApeCoin that is designed to serve as a currency in the BAYC ecosystem. This helped make BAYC one of the most popular NFTs and proved so successful that most of the NFT projects coming out today are also looking to provide additional benefits to their holders.
The most expensive BAYC NFT ever sold fetched $3.4 million. The sale took place on Sotheby’s Metaverse marketplace in October 2021. According to rarity.tools, a platform that measures NFT rarity, #8817’s combination of characteristics makes it the 16th rarest NFT in the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection.
11. Jack Dorsey’s first tweet – $2.9 million
The first tweet ever created, which was published by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, was wrapped in an NFT that fetched a price of $2.9 million. The tweet was sold through a platform called “Valuables”, which allows authors of tweets to mint them as NFTs and digitally sign them. Dorsey donated all proceeds from the sale to charity.
just setting up twttr
— jack (@jack) March 21, 2006
The tweet was purchased in March 2021 by Sina Estavi, a controversial crypto-entrepreneur who was arrested just months later by Iranian authorities on charges of “disrupting the economic system.” Estavi was in a bidding war with TRON founder Justin Sun, who stopped short of bidding at $2 million. Estavi then submitted a bid of $2.5 million, which was enough to win the auction. When the auction ended, the bid was worth $2.9 million due to an increase in the price of ETH.
As it turns out, spending $2.9 million on NFT for the first ever tweet was a terrible decision. Estavi tried to offload it through an auction, but there wasn’t much interest—the highest bid was only about $6,800. The fact that Twitter has now got a new owner in Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey is no longer the company’s CEO also does not bode well for this particular NFT.
Bottom line – the most expensive NFTs ever
Just like what we see with the traditional art world, the artist behind the work is a significant value driver. Works by artists like Beeple, Pak and XCOPY are sure to attract a lot of attention just because of the authors’ reputation alone, making it easier for them to fetch high prices in sales and auctions.
In addition, it is clear that NFT collectors are willing to spend a lot of money to obtain rare pieces from the most popular NFT collections such as CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club. Commonly used as profile pictures on online platforms such as Twitter, these NFTs are seen as status symbols. If you want to get your hands on some NFTs, check out our article on how to get free NFT drops.
A positive trend that we would like to highlight is that many of the most expensive NFT sales have seen their proceeds go to charity.
