The development of non-fungible tokens has piqued the interest of the crypto community and the general public (NFTs). The year 2021 saw enormous expansion in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, both in terms of market capital and infrastructure development.

They saw exponential growth in 2021, as the blockchain changed the digital environment, where anything could be tokenized and turned into an NFT.

10. Save Thousands of Lives — $4.5M

Save Thousands of Lives is an NFT produced by Noora Health, a South Asian charity that saves the lives of at-risk individuals. In May 2021, the artwork was sold for 1337 ETH, which is equivalent to $4.5 million. Instead, the revenues were directed to the organization’s program targeted at preserving the lives of babies.

9. This Changed Everything — $5.4M

This Changed Everything is an NFT of the source code for one of the first iterations of the World Wide Web. It was sold to an anonymous customer for $5.4 million through Sotheby’s on June 30, 2021.

The NFT comes with several perks for the owner, including a letter written by Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, an English computer scientist and the inventor of the internet, a digital poster of the code written by him, and time-stamped documents documenting the history of the internet in its early days.

8. Beeple, Crossroad — $6.6M

Mike Winkelmann, better known by his creative alias Beeple, produced Crossroad, an animated NFT. It depicts former US President Donald Trump lying in a field while onlookers ignore him.

It was sold for $6.6 million on Nifty Gateway in February 2021, but the transaction was completed on the secondary market.

7. Art Blocks, Ringers #109 — $6.93M

Ringers #109 is a collectible generative art item from the Art Blocks series. It is made up of 99,000 Art Block NFTs in total.

According to Dappradar, Ringers #109 was sold for 2,100 ETH, or $6.93 million, in October 2021.

6. Xcopy: Right-Click and Save As Guy — 7.09M

Right-click and Save As Guy is an NFT image that was auctioned off on the decentralized marketplace SuperRare on December 10 for 1,600 ETH ($7.09 million) to Comozo de Medici.

Surprisingly, the buyer’s alias belongs to none other than hip hop legend and global celebrity Snoop Dogg.

5. Larva Labs, CryptoPunk #3100 — $7.58M

CryptoPunk #3100 is a member of the 9 Alien Punks series, and it is somewhat more expensive than CryptoPunk #7804 as one of the most expensive Alien Punks ever sold. #3100 is a blue and white headband-wearing Alien.

It is worth noticing that just 406 of the 10,000 CryptoPunks are wearing a headband. It was first released in 2017 and quickly went to fame after receiving a $2 million offer in March 2021, eventually selling for $7.58 million the same month.

4. Larva Labs, CryptoPunk #7523 — $11.75M

The CryptoPunks are an NFT collection of characters based on the Ethereum blockchain that is generated at random.

On June 20, 2021, London’s Sotheby’s auction house sold CryptoPunk #7523, better known as “Covid Alien,” for $11.75 million, making it the most expensive CryptoPunk sold to date. The NFT belonged to a group of 9 “Extraterrestrial Punks,” who were a rare breed of alien.

3. Beeple, Human One — $29.98M

Beeple designed The Human One, a dynamic, life-generating sculpture. It comprises of an astronaut roaming through changing surroundings and can alter depending on the artist – Beeple has pledged to “upgrade” the Human One over his lifetime, so the art will never be static.

The proposal drew a lot of interest at Christie’s, but it was crypto billionaire Ryan Zurrer who bought it for $29,985,000 on December 9, 2021.

2. Everydays: The First 5000 Days

Everydays: The First 5000 Days is an NFT artwork made by Michael Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, a computer artist. The artwork was auctioned off at Christie’s, with conventional buyers placing an opening bid of around $100.

However, crypto aficionados quickly made larger bets. Beeple was well-known in the crypto art scene for six-figure sales, such as Crossroads, therefore it only took an hour for the piece to climb to more than $1 million, with the final outcome being $69 million for the piece completed on February 21st, 2021.

Everydays: The First 5000 Days is a significant work in the NFT community because it introduced mainstream audiences to the concept of on-fungible assets. MetaKovan, the pseudonymous founder of Metapurse, an NFT investment fund, purchased the artwork. He wants everyone to download and duplicate the pricey artwork he purchased. Why? Because he believes in unrestricted access to information.

1. The Merge — $91.8M

The Merge is a computer artwork produced by Pak, an unknown digital artist. On December 6, 2021, it was sold for $91.8 million on the NFT decentralized marketplace Nifty Gateway. The piece, however, was fractionalized into 312,686 pieces and handed to 28,983 customers. The hitch here is that The Merge was a single work of art made up of a collection of “masses” that customers could purchase.

These bits could be heaped up to form a larger mass and sold on the secondary market. The entire amount spent by the end of the sale was $91.8 million, making it the most expensive NFT sold to date.

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DISCLAIMER: The Information on this website is provided as general market commentary, and does not constitute investment advice. We encourage you to do your own research before investing.

KAZ

Coincu Ventures