NFTs are becoming increasingly lucrative, especially so when it comes to shoes. Plenty of offerings from the digital sneaker market have surpassed the value of their physical counterparts, with virtual shoes from Adidas, Nike, and RTFKT racking up millions of dollars in revenue.
The exclusivity of cyber sneakers, as well as their enhanced digital designs, makes them all that more appealing to collectors. Some virtual shoes even come with real-life matching pairs so owners can flaunt their kicks outside of the metaverse. Whether or not that’s worth millions of dollars is up to you — but you can browse the top-selling pairs to decide for yourself.
RTFKT’s collaboration with NFT studio CryptoPunks, appropriately called Punks Project, created one-of-one sneakers exclusively for people who owned a digital Punks avatar. While pair #5192 originally sold in September 2021 for 4.4 ETH, the collectible has since sold for 22 ETH, or about $36,733.
Just after its April release, a reptilian iteration of Nike’s Dunk Genesis sold on OpenSea for over $33,000. One of 250, the pair features an animated scaly toe box and hits of holographic green. Its current asking price has lowered, just slightly, to $28,000.
Other iterations of the Dunk Genesis sneakers are up for grabs, but they’ll cost you: At the time of writing, an “ANGL” version of the low-top kicks is selling on OpenSea for 22 ETH, or approximately $35,178.
An Atari Asteroids sneaker, designed by RTFKT creator NB04D, last sold in January for 30 ETH — equivalent to about $49,000. The shoe, one of 50 made, is now up for sale again for a cool 60 ETH, or about $100,000. If you’ve got the will (and more importantly, the cash), the digital sneaker is up for grabs until September 8.
Before its acquisition by Nike or its collaboration with Jeff Staple, RTFKT designed its Golden Ox Enchanted kicks in honor of 2021’s Chinese New Year. The pair sold for 35 ETH, or just over $56,000.
Dunks are already a commodity in real life, but online, their value has only increased. A pair of holographic Nike Dunk Genesis sneakers, part of the brand’s RTFKT Cryptokicks collection, sold for just over $91,000 after its April release. Its value has since decreased to $35,000, however, and bids for the sneaker on OpenSea haven’t surpassed $1,000.
RTFKT has been making headlines since the day it launched. Its first-ever pair of sneakers, launched in October 2020, sold for 30 ETH, approximately $115,000.
The most expensive digital pair sold yet is a set of Nike Dunk Genesis sneakers sold in April for 45 ETH — worth $130,000 at the time but now roughly $75,000. Designed by Takashi Murakami, only 98 iterations of the particular NFT were offered, making it a scarce collectors item.