2021 was a breakthrough year for new digital trends like NFTs, GameFi, Blockchain, and later the Metaverse. Even though these are still early days for what some call a “tech revolution,” NFT and blockchain projects have already reached mind-blowing prices. Take the world’s most expensive NFT right now, for example. At first glance, it might not look like much, but it’s valued at nearly $100 million (around 2.4 trillion VND).
The NFT called The Merge is a digital artwork created by an anonymous artist known as Pak, who is famous in the NFT community for iconic pieces. This NFT sold on December 6, 2021, for $91.8 million on the Nifty Gateway marketplace. What’s interesting is that The Merge isn’t a single NFT. Within just two days of launch, it attracted over 28,983 collectors.
Many online users believe The Merge’s sky-high price is partly because it doesn’t have a single owner. Instead, it’s split into 266,445 units owned by 28,983 people. Each unit originally cost about $545 at launch. To buy these NFT pieces, buyers had to participate in a timed auction where the price increased by $25 every six hours. This meant many had to line up early to get the lowest price.
According to sources, Pak’s main goal with The Merge was to attract a new generation of NFT collectors. The cool twist is that, as the name suggests, The Merge can combine all these units into a single NFT. But this can only happen if one person has the power and money to buy all the individual units.
Right now, The Merge remains the most valuable NFT ever created thanks to Pak’s unique concept. However, many believe that with the rapid growth of the NFT market, the $91.8 million record probably won’t last long.
