The Top 10 Most Expensive NFTs

NFTs first emerged onto the market in 2015, sparking the early signs of Web 3 activity. Although NFTs have been around all this time, they have only risen to real prominence in 2021. NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. They are essentially tokens – most commonly art – which are bought and sold on exchanges and stored on the Blockchain.

We will take a look at the top 10 most expensive tokens, and also cover a new high growth NFT that we believe may yield great returns for early investors in the future. We will also show you how to buy NFTs. So without further ado, let’s dive in!

The 10 Most Expensive NFTs Ever Sold

As mentioned, with such a huge rise to prominence, it is not out of place to see some NFTs selling for hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. The primary reason for this is due to the hype/community surrounding the project.

Most projects start off by creating a community on social media and Discord before allowing investors to purchase a limited amount of their tokens. When projects are able to generate huge interest, the basic forces of supply and demand take effect and the price skyrockets accordingly. Projects that can get this process right often see huge returns on investment, generating huge sums from early investors.

Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. 

A Closer Look at the Most Expensive NFT Art

Now we have highlighted the top 10 most expensive NFTs ever sold, let’s take a closer look at each one. In order to truly decipher the value behind these tokens, we are going to take a deeper look into the communities behind each project, the rarity of multi-collection projects, and the artwork itself. As we will see, projects like CryptoPunks have generated huge followings due to their community of collectors.

With such an astronomic rise in popularity as of recent, the price of NFTs has soared. It isn’t uncommon to see popular projects selling collections for hundreds of thousands of dollars. In this article, we are going to take a closer look at some of the most expensive NFTs sold.

However, some of the one of one pieces we will look at have their value more tied to the quality of the art, which is akin to a more traditional form of art auction.

1. The Merge

Finally, the most expensive NFT to ever sell was Pak’s ‘The Merge’. The $91.8m price tag was a record for an artwork sold publicly by a living artist. The NFT was sold on Nifty Gateway to 28,893 collectors who purchased 312,686 units of mass (which were single NFTs). The starting price of these units was $575, which increased by $25 every six hours.

The NFT itself consists of three large white masses (dots) against a black background. The more mass buyers accumulated, the larger their mass would become. The NFT has a built-in scarcity mechanism that ensures the token supply decreases over time. Every Merge token which is transferred merges with the token of the recipient wallet, resulting in a higher mass value and a single token. Perhaps over time, this will result in just one final mass.

There is a built-in leader board for NFT holders which allows them to follow the mass acquired by other collectors. The top 100 and top 5 of the leader board will be rewarded with different style classes. The largest class possible to obtain is the Alpha class which is awarded to the top collector. This dynamic set-up of the NFT really sets it aside from other collections and is likely a large part of why it sold for such a high price. However, there is some controversy over whether this is the most expensive NFT to ever sell, as the funds were raised from almost 30,000 investors rather than a single person. Either way, we have decided to include it as the most expensive NFT ever sold.

2. The First 5000 Days

The First 5000 Days is another one of Beeples high grossing NFT projects. It is a collage of 5000 individual NFTs that Beeples created for his Everyday’s series. It sold for an astonishing $69 million (42.329 ETH) in 2021 at the Christies Auction house.

The NFT was sold to Singapore based programmer Vignesh Sundaresan, who has made the majority of his money by investing in the crypto markets. He is also the founder of the Metapurse NFT project and is better known by his online pseudonym MetaKovan. This is the most expensive NFT ever to be sold to an individual investor.

The artwork is currently being displayed in an online gallery in the metaverse. This can be accessed via a web browser if you want to check it out!

3. CLOCK

The third most expensive NFT ever sold has a slightly unconventional origin. It was created to raise funds for Julian Assange’s defence after he was controversially imprisoned in May 2019. Assange is currently imprisoned on charges of espionage against the US Government, mainly through association with the Website he founded, WikiLeaks. The NFT itself is simply a clock depicting the number of days since Assange has been imprisoned.

The whopping $56m price tag was raised by over 10,000 supporters, each of whom owns a share of the NFT. 100% of the proceeds went to the Wau Holland Foundation, which supports Assange’s defence.

The creator of the NFT is an anonymous artist named Pak. The anonymity of the artist – who refuses to reveal their identity in interviews – fits well with the cause it is raising money for. It has prompted many followers to take a second thought over the controversial case of Assange, in addition to freedom and access to information.

4. HUMAN ONE

Human one is a digital/physical hybrid piece of artwork also designed by Beeple. It sold for a record $28.9 million when it was auctioned off as part of Christie’s 21^st Century Evening Sale on 9 November 2021.

The cool thing about this NFT is that its artwork changes over time. Although the art isn’t owned by Beeple, he retains remote access to it and is able to update it constantly. The NFT itself depicts an astronaut walking through the different backgrounds which as mentioned change over time.

People explained that the inspiration for the piece came from experiments combining multiple TV’s into different shapes and patterns. The unique finished product has created one of the most expensive NFTs of all time!

5. CryptoPunk #5822

CryptoPunk #5822 is the most expensive CryptoPunk to have ever sold, racking up an astronomic $23m price tag. There has also been huge bidding and listing activity on the NFT. There have been multiple bids of over 1000 ETH (~$3m) throughout the token’s lifecycle. However, these have all been denied by the owner. In addition to this, the owner 0xDeepak has listed it for tens of thousands of ETH on multiple occasions. However, none of these listings have come to fruition. 19 days ago, the owner transferred the NFT to an unidentified wallet named 7DDFFB and hasn’t listed it since.

Looking at the rarity of the NFT, it has only one attribute. Only 2% of the collection have just one attribute, making it very rare. In addition to this, it a bandana which only 5% of the collection share. Finally, #5822 is part of the Alien skin, which as mentioned multiple times is the rarest possible skin to have (0.09% chance). The high number of rare attributes has undoubtedly driven the crazy high price of this CryptoPunk.

6. CryptoPunk #7523

CryptoPunk #7523 is the second most expensive CryptoPunk NFT ever sold. It sold for a whopping $11.75m! What’s more, over four months ago, a wallet bid 20,400 ETH for it, which we estimate equated to around $65m dollars. However, the bid was cancelled before it was accepted. Other notable bids include an 800ETH bid from famous NFT collector Pranksy, which equated to roughly $1.5m. This bid was also cancelled, however. These huge bids highlight how much people prize the CryptoPunk collection.

Looking at the NFT’s rarity, it has a number of rare attributes. Firstly, it is part of the Alien sub-collection, with only 0.09% of other CryptoPunks sharing this attribute. It has 3 attributes, which 24% of the collection have and an earring which 25% of the collection have. The slightly rarer traits include a knitted cap, which only 4% of the collection have, and a medical mask, of which only 2% of the collection share. This abundance of rare attributes highlights the rarity of the NFT.

7. CryptoPunk #4156

The seventh most expensive NFT ever sold was also part of the CryptoPunk collection. Number 4156 was sold 4 months ago for 2500 ETH, which equated to $10.26m at that time. Unlike the previous two CryptoPunks on our list, #4156 has sold multiple times throughout its lifespan. Just over a year ago, it sold for 650 ETH, although the seller is likely kicking themselves for selling at this price. Before this, it was sold for 3.29 ETH over 4 years ago, a few months after it was minted.

When looking at the rarity traits of the NFT, we can understand why this CryptoPunk has generated such high value. Its properties include a Bandana and Ape skin. Only 5% of the collection have a bandana, and 0.24% have Ape Skin. This makes the Ape attribute the second rarest skin behind the Alien skin. It also only has one attribute which only 2% of the collection have. In theory, this NFT is less rare than its alien counterparts. However, when the value reaches a certain point it seems that investors are more interested in how the art looks rather than its rarity.

8. CryptoPunk #3100

CryptoPunk #3100 topped the price of the previously highest sold NFT from the collection when it sold for 4200 ETH, which was $7.67m dollars at the time. Again, this monster sale was the only time that #3100 has been sold since it was minted 5 years ago.

It also features the Alien skin, which as mentioned, only 0.09% of the collection have. This is arguable the biggest factor driving the token’s value. It also has a headband, which only 4% of the collection have. Finally, it only has one attribute which only 2% of the collection have. These high rarity traits combined are again the reason why the value of this NFT is so high.

9. CryptoPunk #7804

The ninth most expensive NFT ever to have sold is part of the CryptoPunk collection. The CryptoPunk project is a collection of 10,000 unique characters stored on the Ethereum blockchain. No two CryptoPunks are exactly alike, making them highly prized. When they were released, CryptoPunks were initially free to mint for anyone who had an Ethereum wallet.

CryptoPunk #7804 has some of the rarest available traits across the whole collection. For example, it has ‘Alien’ Skin, which only 0.09% of the collection have. It also has a Pipe which only 3% of the collection has. The Small Shades feature also adds to the rarity, as only 4% of the collection have this. Finally, the Cap Forward trait is only shared by 3% of the collection. All of these attributes combine make CryptoPunk #7804 extremely rare, and hence it has made it onto our top 10 most expensive NFTs list.

The $6.6m sale was the only time that #7804 has been sold since it was minted over 4 years ago. A free mint to over $6m is a pretty good return on investment in our opinion!

10. Beeple’s Crossroad

At the time of its sale, ‘Crossroad’ by highly regarded artist Beeple was the most expensive NFT to ever sell. It sold for $6.6 million on the NFT Exchange Nifty Gateway. The piece depicts a solemn figure lying on the ground, which is meant to symbolise Trump after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. What was cool about the NFT is that it sold before the election and would change based on the election’s outcome.

Beeple is an award-winning artist, with over 1.8 million followers on Instagram. He has also completed a number of high-profile collaborations with brands like Nike, Louis Vuitton, and more. In fact, our fourth most expensive NFT, HUMAN ONE, was also designed by Beeple, highlighting his presence in the industry.

The NFT itself is a one of one piece. This differentiates it from other high-profile collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club – the most expensive Bored Ape NFT sold for $2.3 million dollars – and CryptoPunks. This highly unique nature is likely why it had such an expensive price tag. The floor price of Beeple’s pieces on Nifty Gateway is currently $63,000.

What is the Best NFT to Buy Right Now?

For most investors reading this article, the above NFTs are going to be outside their available price range! Having said that, there are a number of smaller NFT projects in their early stages which could yield huge growth in the future. To save you the hassle of researching these projects yourself, we have picked one of our best new NFT projects that we think could blow up in the next few months: Lucky Block Platinum Rollers Club Collection.

Lucky Block is one of the best altcoins that first floated on the crypto markets back in early 2022. The aim of the crypto was to harness the power of blockchain technology to offer a new take on the traditional lottery system. The Lucky Block collection of 10,000 NFTs acts as entry tickets into daily prize draws. The great news about this is that these prize draws are run separately from Lucky Block lottery draws but still offer an average jackpot of over $10,000. In addition to this, the platform has announced that soon it plans to release a Lamborghini Aventador into the prize jackpot!

Embedded into the collection are 25 ‘Rare Edition’ NFTs, each of which enables owners to double the value of their jackpot should they win. The Lucky Block NFT was available to mint back in early March 2022 for a price of $1,500. It managed to build up significant hype, generating over 42,000 members in Lucky Blocks Telegram group.

This high popularity, coupled with the high growth of the Lucky Block token – which rose a whopping 3200% in its first few weeks on PancakeSwap – could lead to high yielding returns on the Lucky Block NFT project.

Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. 

How to Buy Lucky Block NFTs

Now we have identified and explained a little bit more about our favourite up and coming NFT project, let’s take a look at how you can invest in NFTs right now. We will do this in 5 simple steps:

Step 1: Set up a crypto wallet and add funds

The first step is to set up a crypto wallet and fund it. There are many different wallets out there, all boasting unique features. If you are unsure of where to start, then check out our best crypto wallets article for some of our favourite options.

Once you have selected your chosen wallet, you need to create an account with that platform. To do this, visit the website and follow the onscreen instructions. You will most likely have to enter some personal details at this stage. Once you have done this, you will likely have to verify your account using some form of ID. Once this stage is done you can add funds using a variety of different payment methods, each of which will be dependent on the broker.

Once you have deposited funds you can purchase the crypto you need to buy Lucky Block NFTs. Lucky Block NFTs operate on the Binance Smart chain and hence you will need to buy BNB coin to purchase them.

Step 2: Create a MetaMask account

Now you have created and funded your crypto wallet, you need to create a MetaMask account to connect you to NFT exchanges. This process is pretty simple, you just need to visit the MetaMask website and sign up by following the on-screen instructions.

At this stage, MetaMask will give you a 12-word recovery phrase which you must remember in order to log into your account on other devices.

Step 3: Connect your wallet to your MetaMask account

Now you have set up a wallet and MetaMask account, it is time to connect the two. There are two ways of doing this. The first is to import it using a seed phrase. To do this click the ‘Import with Seed Phrase’ button and enter your wallet seed phrase.

Choose a MetaMask password to accompany this and your account will be set up. The second way of doing this is by using private key or JSON file. Go to the import account section and select the method you wish to use. Then simply paste in your private key or JSON file to connect your wallet.

Step 4: Connect your MetaMask account to Lucky Block website

Now you have linked your wallet to your MetaMask account, you can begin connecting it to decentralised websites. Visit the Launchpad NFT marketplace website, where the Lucky Block NFTs are listed on the secondary market and open your MetaMask account. Click the top left part of the MetaMask dropdown and connect your wallet to the site.

Step 5: Buy Lucky Block NFTs

Once you have connected your wallet to the site, you can browse the listings of Lucky Block NFTs. If you decide you wish to purchase one, you can click on the image and then click the Buy Now button. Your BNB funds will then be automatically taken from your wallet via MetaMask, and you will own the NFT!

Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. 

Conclusion

Overall, the NFT space has grown at a rapid rate since 2020. In this article, we took a closer look at some of the most expensive selling NFTs on the market. CryptoPunks dominated the list, possibly being the most hyped project of all time. In addition to this, artists Pak and Beeple made multiple appearances in our top 10 list, highlighting their prominence in the industry.

Whilst these NFTs are likely out of the common NFT investor’s price range, there are numerous up and coming projects that could yield huge growth in the future. Our best-rated up and coming NFT project at current is Lucky Block Platinum High Rollers Club. It is using NFTs to reimagine the conventional lottery system and the high growth of the Lucky Block coin highlights the popularity of the project. If you are interested in buying Lucky Block NFTs, then visit the Lucky Block website now.

Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. 

FAQs on The Most Expensive NFTs