NFTs, lately they have been in the spotlight tremendously. Everyone is talking about this new development in the crypto world and they are selling for huge amounts.
More and more famous people are entering the world of NFTs and this ensures that even more value is attached to them. NFTs come in all shapes and sizes, but also in all price ranges.
There are several NFTs that have sold for several million, but what are the 10 most expensive NFTs ever sold? That's what we're going to look at today.
What are NFTs?
Do you already know what NFTs are? Then scroll on quickly. But if you don't know yet, or don't quite know yet, then it's smart to read on first since it's very useful to know what an NFT is.
NFT stands for nonfungible token. Fungible means replaceable and nonfungible means irreplaceable. So a nonfungible token is an irreplaceable token. However, that may not tell you much yet.
What might be clearer is to say that a nonfungible token is a token of which there is only one, the token is unique. The token cannot be copied and there really is only one.
To give you a good idea, let's look at some examples:
Bitcoin (BTC) is a fungible token. There are 21 million Bitcoins in total, all of which are basically identical. If you sell 1 Bitcoin today and buyback 1 Bitcoin next week you basically have exactly the same thing, even though you most likely do not have the exact same Bitcoin. There is also no way to verify this because they are all the same.
NFTs, such as the one we are about to discuss, is however unique. There is only one such NFT. So when you sell this NFT today and buy it back next week, you know you have exactly the same one.
At the moment NFTs are often linked to digital art. This is not the only way NFTs can be used. For example, it can also be used to store the property rights to a house. In fact, this has already happened. Indeed, the "Mars house," in Germany, was sold for over $500,000.
Today we will just look at the piece of NFTs in the form of digital art since that is what has received the most attention to date.
What are the most expensive NFTs ever sold?
So earlier we mentioned that NFTs are selling for huge sums these days. Although the prices are still lower than for some of the most expensive paintings, the most expensive NFT is not even that far off.
Apparently, people believe in NFTs so much that they are willing to pay fortunes for them. Definitely worthwhile to learn more about NFT's.
But what are the 10 most expensive NFTs ever sold? We will now look at that.
10. Gunky's Uprising (3LAU)
Sold for: $1.333333 million
The 10th most expensive NFT ever sold so far is one by 3LAU. 3LAU is an American DJ and music producer and he decided it would be a good idea to sell the music video for his song "Gunky's Uprising" from the album "Ultraviolet" as an NFT.
And he wasn't the only one who thought it was a good idea. In fact, the NFT was part of a drop that brought in a total of $11 million. For this NFT specifically, the buyer put down a total of $1,333,333.33. A huge amount, in other words. In fact, this makes it the 10th most expensive NFT of all time.
3LAU is an artist who is very involved with NFTs, as are other DJs such as the Dutch Don Diablo. 3LAU sold his first NFTs back in October of the year 2020 and at the time he was still selling NFTs for amounts of several hundred dollars. Soon he realized that he could ask much more for his NFTs and so he did. He does still sell NFTs for smaller amounts, such as $100.
9. Pixel (Pack)
Sold for: $1.355555 million
The 9th most expensive NFT ever sold was 'Pixel' and was created by the famous NFT artist Pak. Pak started creating NFTs back in February 2020 and has become one of the most famous artists around.
It is remarkable that this particular NFT sold for such a huge amount of money. After all, the NFT is simply a gray pixel. It is really nothing more than that. Just a gray pixel.
Yet the NFT was in huge demand. Pixel was in fact sold at an auction organized by Sotheby's, who often organize NFT auctions. In an auction that lasted a total of 90 minutes, almost 20,000 NFTs were sold, for a total of just over $17 million. Pixel by Pak was thus ultimately sold for a sum of $1,355,555.00.
8. The Switch (Pak)
Sold for: $1.444444 million
Also, the 8th most expensive NFT ever sold was made by Pak, this time 'The Switch'. This one was sold at the same auction as Pixel. This is Pak's most expensive NFT ever sold and for good reason, as this NFT has something very special.
The name, The Switch, is not for nothing, of course. The NFT literally has a switch. The switch means the switch. The owner of the NFT can use this switch and he or she will then see a new work of art.
He or she can only do this once and then there is no way back. Very exciting therefore for the buyer, who put down $1,444,444.00 for the NFT. As well as being known, The Switch has not yet been activated.
7. Quantum (Kevin McCoy)
Sold for: $1.58 million
'Quantum' is the 7th most expensive NFT ever sold. The NFT was created and sold by Kevin McCoy and came out in 2014. As such, it is also the first piece of NFT art ever.
Kevin McCoy made the NFT in collaboration with Anil Dash. Together they coded the NFT all by themselves. With this, they are actually the founding fathers of the NFTs and have truly started a revolution in the crypto world.
6. Death Dip (XCOPY)
Sold for $1.8 million
'Death Dip' is an NFT created by London-based artist XCOPY. He has been active in the world of NFTs since 2018 and he has made many NFTs. This NFT was sold through SuperRare and it is the most expensive NFT ever sold through that platform.
XCOPY also has royalties of 10% sitting on the NFT. As a result, with each subsequent sale of the NFT, he will receive as much as 10% of the purchase price. Thus, should the NFT be resold for the same amount or more, XCOPY would earn at least another $180,000 from this.
5. Replicator (Mad Dog Jones)
Sold for: $4.1 million
The 5th most expensive NFT ever sold so far is "Replicator" by Mad Dog Jones. Mad Dog Jones is currently the most expensive Canadian artist alive, although he didn't sell his first piece of art until 2021.
In Replicator, you see a printer standing there. It's there for a reason. In fact, this NFT creates a new NFT every 28 days. Eventually, the printer will produce between 180 and 220 different NFTs, which the buyer can simply sell on. It is, therefore, possible that the buyer will earn his purchase price back from these sales.
4. Stay Free (Edward Snowden)
Sold for: $5.4 million
The 4th most expensive NFT ever made is "Stay Free" by Edward Snowden. This NFT has a special meaning. Namely, the NFT shows court documents stating that the National Security Agency's Mass Surveillance Practice had broken the law.
The proceeds from this NFT went to the Freedom of the Press Foundation. This is an organization dedicated to freedom of the press in the United States.
3. Ocean Front (Beeple)
Sold for: $6 million
Finally, we have arrived at Beeple's NFTs. Beeple, whose real name is Michael Joseph Winkelmann, is the world's largest NFT artist of all time. He has been an artist for a long time but started selling NFT art in November 2020.
This NFT, the 3rd most expensive ever sold, is called OceanFront. The NFT was purchased by Justin Sun for a whopping $6 million. Ocean Front is one of the artworks in Beeple's Everyday series, but more on that later.
2. Crossroads (Beeple)
Sold for: $6.6 million
Also, the 2nd most expensive NFT ever sold is by the American Beeple. This time it is about his work 'Crossroads'. The first buyer originally bought this artwork for $66,666.66. However, at the time he did not know what he would buy.
He did know that there would be two options. In fact, the outcome would depend on the election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. After Donald Trump lost, it became known what the NFT would look like.
The ex-president lies on the ground with all kinds of things written on him, such as "loser. In front of that, people walk, not even looking back at him.
You are probably wondering why it says this NFT sold for $6.6 million, while the buyer bought it for $66,666.66. This is because the original buyer resold the NFT for the huge amount mentioned earlier. So for this buyer, it really was a top investment!
1. Everydays - The First 5000 Days (Beeple)
Sold for: $69 million
We've talked about Beeple for quite a while now, but what we haven't told you yet is that he has been working on a very big project since May 1, 2007. This project is called "Everydays" and in this project, he creates a piece of art every day. He is still doing this and by now he has made a piece of art for over 5000 days in a row.
The day he reached the milestone of 5000 days was a very special day for him. He decided to compile the first 5000 days into one NFT. What you see in this NFT is a collage of all the artworks he made in the first 5000 days of this project, hence the name.
Not only Beeple thought it was special, in fact, soon the NFT got a lot of attention. At a Christie's auction, the NFT was eventually sold for a monstrous sum of a whopping $69 million.
The transaction took place in March of the year 2021 and to date, the amount has still not been exceeded, indeed, no other NFT sale has ever come close to this amount. However, with crypto, you never know, of course. It could just be that soon there will be a completely different NFT in this first spot.
Conclusion
So NFTs are one of the many new developments in the crypto world and it is definitely a technology that might be of great significance in the future, of course you never know for sure though.
The technology is currently mainly used to link to digital artwork but could be used for much more in the future. For example, you can think of the property rights of a house, or perhaps even a car.
The digital works of art in the form of nonfungible tokens are sold for enormous amounts of money. The most expensive NFT of all time was sold for $69 million.
These are, of course, enormous sums of money and it could well be that the trade-in NFTs will become comparable to the trade-in, for example, paintings. Who knows, time will tell. In any case, it is very interesting and certainly worthwhile to immerse yourself in NFTs.
