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This is a list of the highest known prices possibly paid for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) representing digital assets.

Background

Monetization of digital assets as NFTs became possible with the release of Etheria, on the Ethereum blockchain, in 2015. From late 2017, the NFT market grew quickly. In the first three months of 2021, NFTs worth US$200 million were traded.

One of the earliest NFT projects, CryptoPunks, has provided several of the most expensive NFTs. There were some NFT-like projects or "proto NFTs" that pre-date CryptoPunks; Rare Pepes, for example, was released on Counterparty in 2014.

The economic insecurity created by the Covid-19 pandemic sharply increased trade in risky investments like NFTs. The highest NFT trading volumes were achieved between August 2021 and May 2022. The large influx of laymen of unsophisticated investors led to a price bubble. Since the height of trade in 2021, buyers returned to more stable investments. Coupled with problems in the crypto currency market like the bankruptcy of FTX and market saturation, most NFTs lost all of their value since the high point in 2021.

List of highest prices paid

This list is ordered by consumer price index inflation-adjusted value (in bold) in millions of United States dollars in 2023. Where necessary, the price is first converted to dollars using the exchange rate at the time the NFT was sold. The inflation adjustment may change, as recent inflation rates are often revised. A list in another currency may be in a slightly different order due to exchange-rate fluctuations. NFTs are listed only once, i.e. for the highest price sold. To maintain a manageable size, only NFTs that were sold for an adjusted price of $2 million and above are listed.

Please note that these are the prices that were initially achieved; most of the listed NFTs are basically worthless as of 2024.

See also

• List of most expensive artworks by living artists
• List of most expensive paintings
• List of most expensive photographs
• List of most expensive sculptures
• List of most expensive books and manuscripts

Notes

1. The Misplaced Pages template uses a yearly average inflation. Using monthly averages gives slightly different numbers, most significantly for paintings sold early or late in a year with significant inflation.

References

1. Matney, Lucas (April 8, 2021). "The Cult of CryptoPunks". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
2. Duffy, Ryan (May 18, 2021). "The NFT Market Tripled Last Year, and It's Gaining Even More Momentum in 2021". NFTRadius. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
3. Howcroft, Elizabeth (2021-03-17). "Explainer: NFTs are hot. So what are they?". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
4. Abbruzzese, Jason (June 16, 2017). "This ethereum-based project could change how we think about digital art". Mashable.
5. "Pipe-Smoking Alien CryptoPunk NFT Sells For $7.5 Million". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2021-03-22. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
6. "Ethereum NFT Marketplace Monthly Volume". TheBlock. August 29, 2024.
7. McGimpsey, Patrick (January 31, 2024). "The Rise And Fall Of NFTs: What Went Wrong?". Forbes.
8. ^ "Crypto Art - Fame and Fortune, with Mike "Beeple" Winkelmann". School of Motion.
9. Chandrashekhar, Anandi. "Metakovan, mystery buyer of Beeple's $69.3 million NFT art, reveals identity". The Economic Times.
10. ^ "The most expensive NFT sales so far". one37pm.com. 22 March 2021. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
11. Mattei, Shanti Escalante-De (2022-02-09). "NFT auction raises $52m for WikiLeaks founder". theguardian.com.
12. Porterfield, Carlie. "NFT Star Beeple's First Real-Life Piece Fetches $28.9 Million". Forbes.
13. "CryptoPunks: Details for Punk #5822". cryptopunks.app.
14. "CryptoPunk 7523". Sotheby's.
15. ^ Howcroft, Elizabeth; Carvalho, Ritvik (1 March 2021). "How a 10-second video clip sold for $6.6 million". Reuters. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
16. Allison, Ian. "Tron's Justin Sun Wins $6M Beeple in 'Green' NFT Auction" – via Nasdaq.
17. "CryptoPunks: Details for Punk #5217". www.larvalabs.com.
18. "Sotheby's". June 2023.
19. Lopatto, Elizabeth (Apr 16, 2021). "Edward Snowden NFT sells for more than $5.4 million". The Verge.
20. "An NFT That Saves Lives". www.paulgraham.com.
21. Moynihan, Lydia (Jun 11, 2021). "'Doge' NFT sells for $4 million".
22. "Doge | ZORA". zora.co.
23. CryptoPunks Bot (2021-08-06). "Punk 2338 bought for 1,500 ETH ($4,379,924.93 USD) by 0x7cd3fc from 0xfab9b8. https://t.co/uWIpBAC8ew #cryptopunks #ethereum https://t.co/bpLcaYt2Av" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2021-09-28 – via Twitter.
24. "Phillips Hops on NFT Gravy Train with $4.1 Million 'Mad Dog Jones' Sale". Bloomberg.com. 23 April 2021.
25. "Etherrock #55". Fractional.art.
26. Dickens, Sean (October 27, 2021). "Debut Sotheby's 'Metaverse' auction sees record-breaking NFT sales". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
27. Dickens, Sean (October 27, 2021). "Debut Sotheby's 'Metaverse' auction sees record-breaking NFT sales". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
28. "Fidenza #313 - Fidenza by Tyler Hobbs". OpenSea.
29. Lyons, Kim (2021-03-22). "Jack Dorsey's first tweet sold as an NFT for an oddly specific $2,915,835.47". The Verge. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
30. Gill, Prabhjote (Oct 20, 2021). "Bored Ape NFT sells for $2.7 million, making it the most expensive in Yacht Club collection". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
31. "Sotheby's Metaverse". metaverse.sothebys.com. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
32. "Machine Hallucinations – Space : Metaverse — Machine Hallucinations — Space : Metaverse — 2021". Sotheby's. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
33. "Dreaming at Dusk | Foundation". foundation.app.
34. "MetaRift | Foundation". makersplace.com.
35. "Explorer | Solana".

• Lists of most expensive things
• Lists of visual art topics
• Auction-related lists
• Ethereum
• Non-fungible tokens