I just looked again at the wildest NFT sales of recent years – and honestly, the numbers are still crazy. The most expensive NFT of all time remains Pak's "The Merge" at $91.8 million. What many don't know: that wasn't a single purchase, but over 28,000 collectors shared the units. Each unit cost $575, but together it added up to this insane sum. Pak solved this with that distributed sales method in a really innovative way.

Beeple's "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" was the absolute hit back then – $69 million at Christie's in March 2021. The starting price was a mere $100, but then the price just exploded. 5,000 individual digital artworks, one each day since 2007. MetaKovan bought it, paying 42,329 ETH for it. That was truly a turning point for digital art.

After that, it gets interesting: "The Clock" by Pak and Julian Assange – $52.7 million. A political artwork that counts the days of Assange's detention and is updated daily. The AssangeDAO, over 100,000 people, pooled together to buy it. This shows how NFTs can also be used for activism.

Beeple's "Human One" for $29 million is also wild – a physical kinetic sculpture over two meters tall, with a 16K video display. The piece runs 24/7 and shows different scenes depending on the time of day. Beeple can even update it remotely. This isn't just a digital image but a real fusion of physics and digital.

Then there are CryptoPunks – several pieces are in the top 15. CryptoPunk #5822 (Alien mit blauer Haut) ging für 23 Millionen weg. #7523 (the alien with a mask) $11.75 million. #4156 (Affe mit Bandana) 10,26 Millionen. #5577 (also a monkey) $7.7 million. CryptoPunks were basically the template for everything that came after – 10,000 avatars, launched in 2017, initially free. Now the prices are absurd.

Tpunk #3442 for $10.5 million is interesting because it shows that the most expensive NFTs aren't only on Ethereum. Justin Sun bought it on the Tron blockchain. The piece is called "The Joker" and looks similar to the Batman villain.

XCOPY's "Right-click and Save As Guy" – $7 million. The name is a joke because many think NFTs can just be saved with a right-click. Cozomo de' Medici bought it, one of the most respected NFT collectors. The work was sold in 2018 for 1 ETH, which was about $90 at the time.

Dmitri Cherniak also scored big with his "Ringers" series. Ringers #109 sold for $6.93 million. It's on Art Blocks, generative art with strings and nails. Even the cheapest Ringers still cost $88,000.

Beeple's "Crossroad" was a huge deal in 2021 at $6.6 million – then a new record. A 10-second short film in response to the 2020 US election. Depending on who wins, different endings. It was sold out even before the election.

What I find interesting: the most valuable NFT collections overall are Axie Infinity ($4.27 billion) and Bored Ape Yacht Club ($3.16 billion). The individual pieces are smaller, but the volume makes the difference.

The NFT market is, of course, extremely volatile. 95% of NFTs are practically worthless, but established series like CryptoPunks or BAYC maintain their value. The overall market capitalization is currently around $2.6 billion. Not as wild as in 2021/2022, but there's still movement.

The most important thing is: the most valuable NFTs either have a well-known artist behind them, are extremely rare, or have a cultural/political significance. Just buying any NFT and hoping for profit – that doesn't work. But if you find really good pieces, they can definitely be valuable. Gate also has a good selection of NFT projects if you want to browse around.