Which 5 NFTs have been sold for big money?

Although they have been around for several years, non-fiat tokens have been talked about since early 2021, which saw historic sales that made this market a media headline.

This boom is primarily centered on the art market, thanks to the unprecedented contribution of NFT technology. Each non-paying token issued on the blockchain can be linked to a digital artwork, providing reliable and non-falsifiable proof of the artwork's sole ownership. All the more reason to ignite the passion of collectors and investors in the art world.

In the first half of 2021, NFT sales reached $2,5 billion, surpassing the historic milestone of $40 billion for the full year, representing an increase of 21 350 %. These record sales figures are of increasing interest to investors, and we discuss them in detail in this article.

To learn more about this fast-growing market and its major players, find out which 5 NFT sold for big money.

1. The Merge

Sold for nearly $92 million on December 4, 2021, the Merge by Anonymous Artist Puck became the most expensive NFT piece ever sold, making its creator the most expensive living artist to sell a piece in history.

It is an atypical work as it is broken down into 266 445 different pieces that, when put together, form the final work. No less than 28 983 different buyers have purchased parts of this work auctioned on the Nifty Gateway platform. The Merge has not been purchased by any buyer, raising questions about the legitimacy of its recording.

2. Everydays: The First 5000 Days

This is undoubtedly the piece that has attracted the most attention from collectors and investors in the NFT market. Sold in March 2021 for nearly $70 million, Everydays:The First 5000 Days is a digital collage of 5000 works by artist Michael Winkelman, better known by his pseudonym Beeple.

When sold to Vignesh Sundaresan at Christie's auction, it quickly became the most expensive NFT piece ever sold, dethroning him a few months later.

3. Clock NFT

A digital piece created by artist Puck in collaboration with WikiLeaks founder and whistleblower Julian Assange, Clock represents a clock counting down the days Assange has spent in prison for his revelations since his arrest.

The piece was created to raise funds for Julian Assange's legal defense and was purchased for about $53 million by AssangeDAO, a collective of more than 10 000 people fighting for his release. The piece itself is a simple clock that counts down the days, but its record-breaking sale clearly helped shed light on the case.

4. Human One

We're back again to artist Beeple with a new digital piece that once again brought record prices, selling for nearly $29 million at a Christie's auction, just a few months after Everydays: the first 5 000 days.

The Human One is unique in that it is an evolving work modeled on the ever-changing NFT market: it is a 3D sculpture (for now) representing a life-size silver astronaut, but evolving according to Beeple's inspiration, who will continue to creatively control his work from afar and forever. We look forward to its evolution.

5. CryptoPunk 7523

CryptoPunks represents one of the most expensive NFT collections in the world today. Created by Matt Hall and John Watkinson in 2017 based on the Ethereum blockchain, these pixelated faces were originally offered for free, but thanks to the collector's reflexes, some of them are now worth their fate.

Most notably, the CryptoPunk 7523, which is part of the Alien Collection (9 pieces total) and wears a face mask symbolizing the global Covid-19 pandemic. The mask sold at auction for about $12 million.

So now you know what the five most expensive NFT in history are, at least for now. In a market as volatile and rapidly growing as the non-functional token market, no doubt new sales records will be set soon. In any case, you now have a better idea of the stellar digital work in the sector as well as the top rated artists to keep a close eye on.