World’s most expensive NFT ever sold

• Avinandan Banerjee
• September 27, 2022

The continuous technological developments are impacting the financial sector as well and changing the traditional investment criteria. The talk of the town in the investment world, NFTs are unique virtual assets that symbolize works of art and collectibles, thus storming the digital funding market.

NFTs are driving the millennials to reconsider their perception of arts and notice the upcoming investment opportunities. Moreover, in 2020, NFTs shot to the vanguard of crypto space. The cryptographically unique tokens make it feasible to create real-world shortages for virtual objects, and artists have clutched the opportunity offered by technology. 

Recently, NFTs have successfully attracted more investors, with Google search interest outreaching the highest ranking. Not only peaking the search interests, NFTs even observed record trading volumes in investment market spots like OpenSea and Nifty Gateway. 

But it is now no longer about gaining paramount interest. Individual NFTs are trading for hefty amounts, categorizing some of the artworks in the most expensive NFTs ever sold.

Most Expensive NFT ever sold

CryptoPunk, the 8-bit art style, is highly admired in the world of top NFTs, and the number 9998 withinside the series has practically broken records with its whopping price tag. 

The CryptoPunk NFT announced its sale on Twitter for a staggering amount of approx $532M. However, according to Artnet, the customer and vendor were “one.” The record-smashing price tag was due to the NFT owner boosting the value by purchasing their own NFT. Such a move is considered somewhat illegal in the trading market as this makes a digital collectible more valuable than it really is. 

Ether cryptocurrency was used to purchase CryptoPunk, and surprisingly the respective Ether address used to make the purchase cost $532M. Hence, the astonishing price quotation. 

Some expensive NFTs ever sold

Since we are discussing the most expensive NFT ever sold, let us look into a few other top NFTs offered for whooping amounts.

• Everydays- the First 5000 days

This NFT holds the place as one of the most expensive NFT and digital artwork ever sold. The digital artwork created by Beeple sold for a staggering amount of $69.3 million. The first 5000 digital artworks of Beeple shaped this collection, Everydays. The botch demonstrates the growth of Beeple as an artist over the years in the direction of his career. The collection consists of various styles, mediums, and content. The collection is distinct because when Beeple engaged in making digital art, he worked every single day beginning May 2007. The preparatory works were not satisfactory; still, the value amplified exponentially. Thus, this is one of the most valuable top NFTs.

• CryptoPunk #3100

CryptoPunks are the contemporary creations of the NFTs world. As a matter of fact, these are the absolute first NFTs made available, and after the roar of NFTs, currently, a large number of them are selling for millions! That is the reason why CryptoPunk #3100 is additionally on our ramp, as it is one of the high-priced NFT projects ever sold. 

In actuality, this CryptoPunk is one out of the ordinary ones and is a member of the 9 Aliens group. CryptoPunks consists of 10,000 punks in its pool, out of which 9 form the alien’s group. Therefore, these 9 are some of the golden collections they have. 

What makes this punk super rare is its type and the accessories used, which makes it $7.58 million worth. This NFT abides by ERC standards and are ERC-20 tokens. 

• CryptoPunk #7804

One of the 9 alien CryptoPunks, this punk also sports three accessories, shades, a forward cap, and a pipe. Additionally, this punk is the exclusive CryptoPunk to own a forward cap or a pipe. 

Dylan Field initially got the punk back once the company began to disclose the 10,000 CryptoPunks. He is the CEO of the startup Figma that relies on technological designs. But why did he purchase that punk? Well, because he recognized the potential for this Ethereum based NFT that persuaded him to purchase it. As a result, this CryptoPunk roped in an astonishing amount of $7.57 million. 

• Crossroads

Another NFT creation by the acclaimed digital artist Beeple sold for $6.66 million. Crossroads sold just days before the large sale of Everydays. Moreover, this piece was sold on Nifty Gateway. Unlike Everydays, this creation is simply a solo piece of art. Therefore, the estimation of this piece makes it more expensive.

If we talk about Crossroads, this artwork is somewhat political speculation and a reaction to the US presidential elections of 2020. And here comes the fun part, where the artist created contrasts. One depicted Trump’s victory and the second Trump’s defeat. Even the video was alterable based on the outcome.   

• The first tweet

Hopping on to the next artwork that lists the most expensive NFTs in 2021 is the very first tweet. The founder and CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsay, tweeted the first tweet that sold for a hefty amount of $2.9 million. The tweet was all about ” just setting up my Twitter” and drew in millions. 

Twitter, the massive popularity that this social media platform enjoys, undoubtedly the first tweet garnered so much attention. Definitely a new style of digital asset tokenization.  

Initially, Jack Dorsay sold the tweet to the CEO of Oracle Sina Estav, who later sold this tweet on Valuables, an online auction platform. Although the ownership of the tweet lies with Sina Etsav, the post will still be on Twitter. 

• CryptoPunk #4156

Another CryptoPunk on the list of the most expensive NFTs is an Ape Punk that accessorizes a blue bandana. Of all the 10,000 punks, only 481 categorize such feature. This NFT brought in a whopping amount of $1.25 million and now belongs to the Ethereum platform.

• Not Forgotten, But Gone

Would you choose to purchase a rotating gummy undergo video clip for millions? Well, this is what happened in Nifty Gateway NFT sales. An artist referred to as WhIsBe used to create artworks, elements of numerous gummy bears in innovative forms. Sold for $1 million, this creation is a 16-sec video of a rotating golden gummy enduring a skeleton known as “Not Forgotten, But Gone.”

• World Wide Web Source Code

The idea of selling an NFT representing the unique source code of the web in an auction at Sotheby’s by the originator of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, stunned many people. This decision brought a lot of criticism. According to the critics, selling the web’s unique source code is against the ethics of decentralized aspects of the web. However, Tim Berner’s Lee argued that his decision totally aligns with the ethics of the web. 

Of course, it is no longer truly the web’s supply code- open supply and in the public domain and is therefore openly accessible to view and copy. Instead, it is a creative illustration of the supply code, a bundle of artworks collectively packaged in an NFT. The NFT titled “This Changes Everything” sold for $5.4 million despite the criticisms it faced. 

• Fidenza #313

The Ethereum- based generative art reserve Art Blocks have been achieving hundreds of millions of bucks in buying and selling while the identicals of CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club have been topping the headlines. 

As of August 2021, Fidenza #313 by Tyler Hobbs has been recorded as one of the most expensive Ethereum based NFT sold to date. The purchase was sealed with a transaction of $3.3 million. However, the seller bought it for only $1400 just two months before reselling it at a mind-boggling price of $3.3 million. 

Apart from Fidenza, three other artworks from the reserve have been trading in seven-figure amounts. The Art Blocks NFT project single handedly traded for $300 million in August 2021.

• CryptoPunk #2338

Here we go, with another CryptoPunk added to the list. The artwork we are talking about is one of the 88 zombies in the entire collection of 10,000 CryptoPunks. Out of the 88 zombies, only 4 of them accessorize with a thin mohawk attribute, thus making it unique in the pool of CryptoPunks. 

This CryotoPunk #2338 NFT deal serves as an excellent example of a return on investment. Initially, this punk was purchased just for $443 in November 2018. However, the owner resold this CryptoPunk for an astonishing amount of $4.4 million in August 2021, thus garnering 1,000,000% profit within three years. 

Conclusion

Over the last few months, NFT has stormed the digital marketplace. It has changed people’s perception of investment in the digital world. The beginning of 2021 witnessed a surge in demand for NFTs, where many of them were promoted for millions. The idea might be insane for some, but this is the era of the digital revolution, and NFTs are unique forms of the token that perfectly fit in. 

Now that you are pretty aware of the concept of NFTs and the most expensive NFTs in the virtual market, why not try your hands on your luck? But before that, remember to take the guidance of an NFT expert. You can also opt for NFT training courses available if you want to be an NFT expert. And don’t forget that these NFTs are supported by blockchain technology, so dig in for some extra knowledge and keep yourself updated with the latest trending technologies and digital investment options.