There’s been a recent boom in the art world of people creating and selling work that doesn’t exist in the physical world. Referred to as “non-fungible tokens” or “NFTs,” for short, these pieces are made entirely online using new technologies.

While some people might dismiss NFT artwork as nothing more than a fad, a few artists have proven that there’s a ton of money to be made in them.

Here are 5 millennial artists who have made millions on their NFT artwork.

Murat Pak - “The Merge”
Price Tag: $91.8 million

On December 2, 2021, Murat Pak became the most expensive living digital artist after the leading NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway held an unusual auction that involved his creation, titled “The Merge.” The sale saw more than 28,000 collectors spending a whopping $91,806,519 to snap up 312,686 total units of mass, or what is most commonly referred to as a non-fungible token (NFT).

“This is an incredible moment for NFTs, with one of the top digital artists setting this record at Art Basel,” said Duncan Cock Foster, co-founder of Nifty Gateway. “This is further validation for NFTs as a medium of art and innovation that could only be integrated through blockchain technology.”

An artist and graphic designer from Turkey, Pak has spent the last two decades making waves in the crypto media world. He’s best known for creating “Archillect,” a digital curator that uses artificial intelligence to discover and share visual media.

Beeple - “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days”

Price Tag: $69.3 million

In March 2021, Mike Winkelmann – the digital artist known as “Beeple” – smashed records when an NFT of his piece “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” was sold by Christie’s auction house for $69 million. It was made using images of his art that he had posted online every day for the past five thousand days, which was part of a project that he had started in 2007.

“Artists have been using hardware and software to create artwork and distribute it on the Internet for the last twenty-plus years, but there was never a real way to truly own and collect it,” said Beeple in a statement. “I believe we are witnessing the beginning of the next chapter in art history, digital art.”

The record-breaking sale came after other highly valuable auctions. The year before, a pair of Beeple’s NFTs fetched more than $66 million each, while a collector bought a series of his works for a total of $3.5 million.

Larva Labs - “CryptoPunk #4156”
Price Tag: $10.2 million

The art world was rocked in December 2021 when an anonymous collector dropped 2,500 ETH – the equivalent of $10.2 million – on “CryptoPunk #4156,” a rare Ape Punk that’s one of 24 in a collection of 10,000 items.

Created by the collective “Larva Labs,” CryptoPunks are uniquely generated characters featuring different attributes, which determines their value. For instance, Punks wearing ordinary items, such as beanies and hoodies, are usually sold for anywhere between $350,000 and $500,000. Meanwhile, one that depicted an alien species (CryptoPunk #7523) was purchased for $11.7 million.

“Looking back now, the CryptoPunks ended up being the first of its kind on the Ethereum blockchain,” said Matt Hall, co-founder of Larva Labs. “Non-fungible tokens are one of the more exciting use cases for the blockchain and there are [venture capitalists] investing in lots of companies working on related projects. That’s pretty amazing to see, I can’t wait to see where all of this ends up.”

“Overall, we’ve been lucky enough to be early on several big technologies,” Hall added. “I think we’re getting pretty good at zeroing in on what’s really interesting about new technology. We were both early users of the Internet before it went mainstream, and were already writing smartphone apps full-time back in 2006.”

Mad Dog Jones - “REPLICATOR”
Price Tag: $4.1 million

In April 2021, Micah Dowbak, or “Mad Dog Jones” became the most expensive living Canadian artist when his “REPLICATOR” sold for a staggering $4.1 million through the Phillips’ auction house. Unlike most other digital pieces, this is a copy machine backed by a unique smart contract programmed to automatically spit out a new generation of NFTs every 28 days. All these can be either kept or sold, depending on what its owner wants to do.

“I think that there’s a lot of misunderstanding and confusion floating around the traditional art collecting community about what NFTs are exactly and how people should go about acquiring these works and supporting these artists,” explained Mad Dog Jones. “By having a traditional auction house sell the artworks, it really opens up the door to a much larger community that is not fully immersed in the crypto space.”

He added, “The idea of NFTs is so new and the themes around REPLICATOR are reflecting on past innovation. It felt right to house this new artwork in an institution so firmly grounded in the past.”

Trever Jones - “The Bitcoin Angel”
Price Tag: $3.2 million

Renowned Scottish-Canadian visual artist Trever Jones shattered records when he launched an open edition drop on the NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway. Titled “The Bitcoin Angel,” it sold 4,167 NFTs, which translates to over $3.3 million in sales. He also encouraged them to hold on to their piece until Bitcoin reaches a total value of $77,777, further promising that if they do, they’d be entered into a draw to have their portrait drawn by him personally.

“In the early days, there really were only a handful of [crypto] artists,” said Jones. “We all spoke to each other daily and got excited about who’s doing what. In the last six or so months, it’s really blown up. It mirrors the art world in general, with money, egos, and personalities, and everybody wanting a piece of the pie.”

Since dipping his toes into crypto art in 2018, Jones has broken multiple records. For instance, “The Bitcoin Angel” became the most expensive open-edition NFT artwork ever sold. His pieces have also fetched extremely high bids on marketplaces dedicated to non-fungible tokens, including on Nifty Gateway, SuperRare, and MarkersPlace.

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With these high prices, it’s clear that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are increasingly becoming accepted by artists and art collectors from across the globe.

All images via niftygateway.com

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