I recently noticed an interesting trend in the digital art market. It turns out that some NFTs are worth simply astronomical amounts. So I decided to find out which specific works have reached such heights. The results are impressive.

Let's start with the record holder. The Merge by Pak is a whole different story. Sold for $91.8 million in December 2021, and here’s the interesting part: it’s not a single piece, but an entire system. Over 28,000 collectors bought a piece of this work, each paying $575. It’s a kind of collective ownership. Pak is known for keeping his identity secret, but in the digital art world, he’s been a serious figure for two decades.

Second place goes to Beeple with his Everydays: The First 5000 Days. $69 million at Christie's auction. It all started with $100, and then the bids just skyrocketed. Artist Mike Winkelmann created one digital piece every day for five thousand days straight, then compiled everything into one collage. A programmer from Singapore, Vignesh Sundaresan, bought it for 42,329 ETH.

Next are the clocks — a joint project by Pak and WikiLeaks founder. The timer counts down the days of Assange’s detention, updating daily. The group of supporters paid $52.7 million for this piece in February 2022. It’s not just art; it’s a political statement.

Beeple is back on the list with Human One — a kinetic sculpture over seven feet tall. A figure in a silver suit with a space helmet, surrounded by a changing dystopian landscape. Projected onto four walls, with constantly updating content. Sold for $29 million in November 2021.

CryptoPunk #5822 is an alien with blue skin, one of only nine such. The CEO of a blockchain company bought it for $23 million. The CryptoPunks series started with 10,000 unique avatars in 2017, distributed for free, and now they’re worth millions.

A few more top crypto-punks: #7523 с медицинской маской за 11,75 миллиона, #4156, a monkey, sold for $10.26 million; #5577 тоже обезьяна за 7,7 миллиона, #3100, an alien, for $7.67 million; #7804 for $7.57 million. It’s clear that the most expensive NFTs in this series are the rare alien variants.

Also on the list is TPunk #3442, bought by the CEO of Tron for 120 million TRX — roughly $10.5 million. It’s called the Joker, resembling Batman’s enemy. This was a derivative project from CryptoPunks on the Tron blockchain.

XCOPY sold Right-click and Save As Guy for $7 million — a joke in the title, since many think NFTs can be downloaded with a right-click. The work is dystopian, as usual for this artist. It was purchased by Kozomo de Medici, one of the most prestigious collectors.

Ringers #109 by Dmitry Chernyak is generative art made of threads and nails. Sold for $6.93 million. It’s the most expensive NFT on the Art Blocks platform overall.

A few more CryptoPunks: #8857, a zombie punk, sold for $6.63 million; and Crossroads by Beeple for $6.6 million — a 10-second film about the 2020 US elections.

Overall, if you look at the entire market, the most expensive NFT is clearly The Merge. But it’s interesting that collections also fetch huge sums. Axie Infinity is valued at around $4.27 billion, and Bored Ape Yacht Club at $3.16 billion.

It’s March 2026, and the market continues to develop. Some works that seemed expensive a year ago now appear relatively cheap. The market is volatile, of course, but for serious collectors, this is already an established art form with its own history and value. Every most expensive NFT has its story — whether it’s a political manifesto, an artistic experiment, or simply a rare digital artifact.