Recently, I started reviewing the history of the NFT market, and there are things most people forget. When we talk about the most expensive NFT ever sold, most think of Beeple or CryptoPunks, but in reality, it was Pak's The Merge that broke all records.

This piece sold for $91.8 million in December 2021, and the fascinating part is that it wasn't a traditional sale. Pak did something different: allowed nearly 29,000 collectors to buy units of the work at $575 each, totaling 312,000 units. So technically, The Merge doesn't belong to just one person but to an entire community. That’s what makes it unique.

Then comes Beeple with his work Everydays: The First 5000 Days, sold at Christie's for $69 million in March 2021. The guy spent 5,000 days creating a digital piece every day and then compiled them into a massive collage. It started with a base price of just $100, but the bids skyrocketed. Vignesh Sundaresan, known as MetaKovan, was the one who bought it using 42,000 ETH.

Another noteworthy piece is Clock, created by Pak in collaboration with Julian Assange. It’s a stopwatch that records Assange’s days of imprisonment, updating daily. It sold for $52.7 million when AssangeDAO, a supporter group, acquired it in February 2022. It was more than art; it was a political act.

Looking at entire collections, Axie Infinity accumulated $4.27 billion in total sales, and Bored Ape Yacht Club reached $3.16 billion. But when searching for the most expensive individual NFT, The Merge remains the king.

CryptoPunks also had their moment of glory. #5822, un Alien Punk de piel azul, se vendió por 23 millones. El #7523, another alien but with a medical mask, reached $11.75 million at Sotheby’s. Then there’s #4156, a monkey punk that sold for $10.26 million, although just 10 months earlier, it was worth $1.25 million. The market’s volatility is wild.

Human One by Beeple is another gem: a 16K kinetic sculpture that runs 24/7 and can be remotely updated by the artist. It sold for $29 million at Christie's in November 2021. It’s basically a living artwork that evolves over time.

There are others that also broke the mold: XCOPY sold Right-click and Save As Guy for $7 million, a joke about how people believe they can download NFTs with right-click. Dmitri Cherniak’s Ringers #109 reached $6.93 million. And Beeple’s Crossroad, that 10-second short about the 2020 elections, sold for $6.6 million.

What’s interesting is that the NFT market remains extremely volatile. Although most NFTs are worth almost nothing (it’s said that 95% are practically worthless), works by established artists like Pak, Beeple, and the original CryptoPunks maintain their value. The total market capitalization hovers around $2.6 billion.

When you look for the most expensive NFT on the market today, prices vary greatly. CryptoPunks and Bored Apes are still the most coveted, with values ranging from thousands to millions. But those early NFTs in history, especially The Merge, set the standard for what’s possible in this space.

The truth is, these sales records show how digital art has completely changed. It’s no longer just about owning a unique piece, but about the story behind it, the artist who created it, and what it represents culturally. That’s why some of the most expensive NFTs in the world are also the most meaningful. If you’re interested in exploring this world, Gate offers good options to see how the digital assets and collectibles market moves.