Art backed by blockchain technology. That’s NFTs. These non-fungible tokens are unique digital objects backed by blockchain tech, ensuring there’s no way to counterfeit or replicate them. Whether it’s an audio snippet, a painting, a collectable item or a video – it seems that some people are willing to pay a lot to get their hands on the best NFTs out there.
Let’s look at the 4 most expensive NFTs we’ve come across so far.
Cryptopunk 7523
Think of these as the Rolls Royce’s of the NFT world. They’re often considered a status symbol for the wealthier crypto investors, and as one of the earliest NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain, all 10,000 Cryptopunks are highly valuable.
But there are a few that are worth more than others, with one of the rarest sold for a staggering $11,75 million on auction at Sotheby’s.
Called CryptoPunk 7523, this is no ordinary alien punk, but it’s one that wears a mask – something that’s become somewhat symbolic in the last few years. So, it’s little wonder that this one is called the Covid Alien and is one of the rarest in the series of 9 Alien Punk NFTs.
Who sold Cryptopunk? We don’t actually know. The anonymous seller went by the pseudonym of Sillytuna and informed the public that the Punk had been in his or her possession for several years.
While bidding was initially slow, starting at $1,5 million, the final sale settled at $11,75 million and was won by DraftKings shareholder, Shalom Mackenzie – keep an eye out, you might just see it someday on the NFT marketplace.
The Merge
Cryptopunk certainly fetched a small fortune, but it’s nothing in comparison to what’s believed to be the most expensive NFT to date – The Merge – which fetched a staggering $92 million.
Funny enough, the transaction was more legit than Cryptopunk’s sale, but people continue to debate whether or not you can really consider The Merge one artwork or several different artworks.
Why? It’s because The Merge wasn’t sold by just a single buyer, but rather by multiple buyers. Prices per coin began at $575 and rapidly increased hour upon hour. Finally, the coins were sold to more than 30,000 buyers.
The Most Expensive NFT – Cryptopunk
So, we’ve mentioned Cryptopunk 7523, but in 2021, an NFT called just Cryptopunk was sold for a jaw-dropping $532 million. Interestingly, word on social media is that this isn’t necessarily the world’s most expensive NFT to date, but more of a publicity stunt to inflate the value of non-fungible tokens.
Yet, Cryptopunk did get $532 million and is one of just three thousand.
The First 5,000 Days by Beeple
Finally, we have to mention another expensive NFT by the title The First 5000 Days by Beeple. Beeple is one of the most popular NFT artists on the globe, and this piece of work, in particular, is a sort of collage that combines over 5,000 pieces of art – one for every day of Beeple’s career so far.
Sotheby’s curated the auction of the piece, with Beeple becoming one of the highest valued artists in the NFT industry by the time bidding had finished.
The piece sold for a mega 42,329,5 ETH ($69 million), with the final stretch of bidding taking place between the founder of Lendroid and Portkey Technologies, Metakovan and Justin Tron, the founder of TRX.
The winning bid eventually went to Metakovan.
On the bright side, you can still get your hands on some art from Beeple, who has a couple of pieces with high valuations up for grabs, including Crossroads (worth $6.6 million) and Ocean Front (worth $6 million).
