The 10 most expensive NFTs: CryptoPunks, Pixels and Snowden

NFT fever has quickly swept the industry, enriching figures in digital art and creators of popular memes. We have compiled a ranking of the most expensive lots — their total value exceeds $100 million.

Everydays: The First 5000 Days by Beeple — $69.3 million

The creator of the most expensive NFT was Mike Winkelmann, known by the pseudonym Beeple. The final bid for his work $60.3 million, but commissions were also included in the price. The auction ended on 11 March at Christie’s.

Everydays: The First 5000 Days is a collage of Winkelmann’s thousands of works published online since 2007. The NFT was purchased by a user under the pseudonym Metakovan, under which Vignesh Sundaresan hid [Vignesh Sundaresan].

CryptoPunk #3100 — $7.58 million

In 2017, the Larva Labs team launched the CryptoPunks project of 10,000 NFT images sized 24×24 pixels. Initially, many non-fungible tokens from this collection were distributed for free.

On March 11, one of the nine alien CryptoPunks was sold for $7.58 million. Its current owner is unknown.

CryptoPunk #7804 — $7.57 million

Another alien CryptoPunk #7804 was sold for $7.57 million. The auction closed on March 11. The NFT went for the same 4200 ETH as CryptoPunk #3100, but the ETH-to-USD rate at the time of sale had changed.

Crossroad by Beeple — $6.6 million

On 25 February Winkelmann’s piece, tied to the 2020 US presidential election, was resold on the Nifty Gateway platform for $6.6 million. In December 2020, Beeple sold “Crossroad” for $582,000.

The work depicts the loser of the election, former US President Donald Trump, lying in a pile of rubbish. According to the artist’s idea, the NFT was supposed to change according to the election results.

If Trump had won, the NFT would have changed into a crowned sporting Trump stepping through the flames.

“Ocean Front” by Beeple — $6 million

On 23 March the founder of Tron, Justin Sun bought another Winkelmann painting for $6 million. Beeple donated the proceeds to climate-change efforts.

The piece became the first NFT of the JUST NFT Fund, launched by Sun. According to the founder of Tron, he tried to buy the most expensive NFT “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” but his bid was outbid.

Stay Free by Edward Snowden — $5.5 million

The former NSA and CIA employee Edward Snowden also joined the NFT craze. On 16 April his NFT “Stay Free” was sold on the Foundation platform to a user under the pseudonym PleasrDAO.

The NFT depicts a digitised portrait of Snowden assembled from cut-outs of documents with a lawsuit accusing the NSA of violating US law.

All proceeds went to the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Since 2016 Snowden has served as president of the organisation that advocates for press freedom and opposes journalism that places state interests above those of the public.

Jack Dorsey’s first tweet — $2.9 million

just setting up my twttr

— jack (@jack) March 21, 2006

On 6 March, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey put up for sale a post with the text “Just setting up my Twitter” as an NFT. The founder of Tron offered $2 million for the lot.

Sun’s rival Sina Estavi, founder of Bridge Oracle, on 22 March bought Dorsey’s first tweet for $2.91 million.

The Twitter CEO said he would convert the proceeds from the sale into bitcoin and donate them to charity. The recipient will be the GiveDirectly nonprofit organization.

CryptoPunk #6965 — $1.54 million

On February 19, one of the 24 CryptoPunk apes was sold. As of writing, #6965 ranks third in sale price among the CryptoPunks collection.

The Pixel by Murat Pak — $1.36 million

On 17 April an anonymous artist under the pseudonym Murat Pak sold a plain grey pixel 1×1 as an NFT on the Nifty Gateway platform.

The NFT became part of the joint collection “The Fungible” with the auction house Sotheby’s, founded in 1744.

Auction Winner Picks Name by SSX3LAU — $1.33 million

SSX3LAU is a creative duo of DJ Justin Blau and artist Mike Parizella, known by the pseudonyms 3LAU and Slime Sunday respectively.

The buyer of their joint NFT Auction Winner Picks Name received the complete music video and chose the song title — “Gunky’s Uprising”. The token was purchased by John Legere.

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