These are the most expensive NFTs sold in 2022
The NFT (non-fungible token) market is a thriving and lucrative arena that is worth billions of dollars. From abstract digital art to music, sports memorabilia, movie clips and even real estate, the sky is literally the horizon for what can be turned into an NFT. And the value of some of the most expensive NFTs sold in 2022 can help you gauge the scope of the NFT space.
NFT sales have shot up over the years. In 2021, there was a big upswing in interest in digital assets and the sale of NFT projects. The year saw some of the most valuable NFTs make headlines with impressive sales, and sluggishness continued into early 2022. Cryptopunk NFT collections received a lot of attention and saw some very successful NFT projects this year.
From offering opportunities to create and list your artwork, to helping build a dynamic NFT ecosystem where buyers and creators can interact seamlessly, NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, Nifty Gateway and Foundation alongside iconic auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s have been central in discovering artists and NFT collectors.
In December 2021, Pak caused a storm in the NFT-verse by raising a staggering USD 91.8 million through his NFT titled Merge on the Nifty Gateway market. The value was followed by two of Beeple’s creations – The first 5000 days which sold for $69.3 million in March and Human One which sold as part of Christie’s 21st Century Evening Sale in November.
However, according to media reports, while the wave appeared to have peaked in 2021 and in January 2022, there has been a significant decline in NFT sales in 2022. The ‘crypto winter’ looks to be even cooler from Q2 to Q3. Reuters refers to DappRadar and says: “The third quarter of 2022 saw USD 3.4 billion in NFT sales, down from USD 8.4 billion in the previous quarter and USD 12.5 billion at the market peak in the first quarter of the year.” After an explosive 2021, the calm seems to continue even in the fourth quarter of 2022.
With another year behind us, we’ve rounded up some of the most expensive NFTs sold to date in 2022, along with their features, artist details, and what makes them worthy of such sky-high amounts. And beyond 2022, the two sales from 2021 also deserve special mention for achieving the highest value ever.
[Hero and Featured Image Credit: Rodion Kutsaiev/Unsplash]
The most expensive NFTs sold in 2022
Clock: USD 52.7 million
Made in collaboration with Pak and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Clock The NFT was dropped in February 2022 and became the third most expensive NFT to date. Although the NFT does not resemble or have anything to do with a clock, it has a profound impact on timekeeping. The NFT initiative is a digital count of the number of days Assange was held in Belmarsh Prison on espionage charges in 2019. All proceeds from the sale went towards his legal battle.
Launched as part of Pak and Assange’s Censored series of 29,000 NFT messages, Clock sold to AssangeDAO, a decentralized organization (DAO) with over 10,000 supporters of Assange who crowdfunded the sale. The Clock The NFT was sold for USD 52.7 million and the amount was handed over to the Wau Holland Foundation which fought for Assange’s defense. Pak shared a brief note after the end of the auction, saying:Censored was a drop with no creator, developer, platform or intermediaries. Everything from people, for the people.”
Reminder: Censored was a drop with no part of creator, developer, platform or intermediaries.
Everything from the people, for the people.
A special thanks to friends at @manifoldxyz to help with the project as well as donate their share just like everyone else.
<3 #code poetry
— Pak (@muratpak) 9 February 2022
Pack his Clock NFT is not the first of its kind to be sold for a cause. In 2021, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden raised $5.4 million by selling an NFT of his own face made from pages of a US Court of Appeals ruling.
Cryptopunk #5822: USD 23.7 million
This piece is Cryptopunks’ most expensive NFT sold to date. The rare punk, wearing a blue bandana, sold for a whopping $23.7 million in February 2022. It is part of the alien punk series and was snapped up by Chain CEO Deepak Thapliyal.
This expensive cryptopunk NFT justifies its staggering value as it is one of nine rare alien punk series and one of a group of 333 other cryptopunk NFTs with a bandana.
The Cryptopunks collection has achieved unprecedented popularity among NFT enthusiasts. The collection of 10,000 such avatars on the Ethereum blockchain was launched by Larva Labs and is heavily influenced by the London punk scene, the cyberpunk movement as well as electronic music artists such as Daft Punk. Yuga Labs later took over the collection’s intellectual property in March 2022. This paved the way for the new generation of NFT profile pictures such as the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs are known for.
Cryptopunk #5577: USD 7.7 million
Another digital artwork from the highest grossing cryptopunk NFT collection, this piece sold in February 2022 for USD 7.7 million. This cowboy hat-wearing NFT was purchased by Compound Finance founder Robert Leshner.
What does Cryptopunk #5577 stands out from the rest in the collection is that it is one of only 24 monkey-looking punks. It has a darker complexion and is one of 142 NFTs to wear a cowboy hat. However, with an increase in popularity and market dominance of Bored Ape Yacht Club, it won’t be as easy to see a punk monkey as an NFT profile picture.
UkraineDAO PartyBid: USD 6.7 million
🇺🇦 2250 ETH / $6.75M USD CONTRIBUTION TO THE UKRAINIAN FLAG NFT 🇺🇦
Thanks to everyone who supported our project 🙏
Next step: POAP for all those who donated to party bid, work with Come Back Alive for secure transfer of funds
You can still donate ETH directly to ukrainedao.eth pic.twitter.com/GsQBLzHIVK
— UkraineDAO.ETH (@Ukraine_DAO) March 2, 2022
This NFT sale deserves a special mention in the list due to the situation in which it was sold and managed to raise a staggering USD 6.75 million.
On March 2, 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its seventh day, causing harrowing conditions for the people there. In an effort to get rations and essential supplies to the war-torn people, Russian art collector Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot, NFT studio Trippy Labs, and members of the influential PleasrDAO joined forces to form UkraineDAO. It is a decentralized automated organization that aims to help Ukraine in this dire situation.
They organized a fundraiser by auctioning off an NFT of the Ukrainian flag. The NFT was sold to the winning bid from a group of 3,271 contributors who came together via PartyBid. The proceeds were then handed over to an organization called Come Back Alive that is dedicated to providing supplies to the residents there.
This NFT project set an unprecedented example of how the crypto world can come together and help them in a time of crisis.
All Time High In The City: USD 6.2 million
Riding the wave of NFT mania in early 2022, XCOPY’s All Time High In The City sold for USD 6.2 million in January. It was purchased by an NFT collector under the moniker rarecollector3000 for 1630 ETH on the NFT marketplace SuperRare.
It is one of the most expensive NFTs of the year and is composed of a red and black animated graphic design depicting a boatman carrying a man across what appears to be the River Styx.
This dark NFT art was originally minted in 2018, but gained prominence much later. In September 2021, it was valued at USD 3 million, and in four months it found a place among the most expensive NFTs as its value doubled.
XCOPY’s style stands out quite a bit in the NFT ecosystem as it is underlined with a theme of foreshadowed death and depicts a dystopian world. In fact, this is the same person behind another successful and expensive NFT Right click and Save as guy which was sold for around USD 7 million in 2021.
The most expensive NFTs ever sold (so far)
Merge: USD 91.8 million
Pak is one of the most prolific and hugely successful names in the NFT space with some of the most expensive NFTs ever sold on credit. But even though it was sold at the very end of last year, his was Merge NFT deserves special applause.
Struck in December 2021, this continues to hold the top position in 2022 as the most expensive NFT sold to date. Sold for a whopping USD 91.8 million on the Nifty Gateway, Pak has outperformed all its contemporaries by a wide margin and set new standards in NFT sales.
Rather than a static artwork, it was released as a collection of 3,12,686 ‘masses’ which were distributed among 28,983 buyers who could then buy and sell these masses on secondary marketplaces to create a larger mass. The blockchain mechanism involved allowed a newly acquired mass to attach itself to the existing mass and create a larger value and a single token. After a whirlwind 48-hour sale, Pak set new records for selling the most expensive NFT art by breaking the previous art record held by Jeff Koons’ 1986 painting Rabbit which sold for USD 91 million in 2019.
Weekdays: The first 5,000 days: USD 69.3 million
Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple, is another NFT art creator who has a significant place in this arena with a number of expensive NFTs in his portfolio. Weekdays: The first 5,000 daysthe second most expensive NFT to date, was sold by Christie’s as the auction house’s first complete digital art sale.
A graphic designer turned digital artist, Beeple worked on this piece – a collage of 5,000 tiny images – over a period of over 13 years, thus justifying the hefty price tag. In fact, this piece helped put the spotlight on the entire non-fungible segment and made the term familiar to every household. In accordance Coincreedthe piece was purchased by an anonymous buyer who later revealed his identity to be Vignesh ‘Metakovan’ Sundaresan.
Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, was the second highest bidder for Beeple’s NFT.
This story first appeared here.
