When we talk about the best NFT artists in the world, only a select few are included in the conversation. One of the biggest names has sold close to $500 million USD in NFTs, pioneered new approaches, and helped Julian Assange fight for freedom. That NFT artist is Pak.
Over the last 10 years, Pak has built revolutionary products, created globally-important art, and used their platform to drive real-world change.
Pak has perhaps done more than any other to prove that NFTs can be a vehicle for meaningful change – but how did Pak rise to prominence, why are Pak’s works so important, and what does the future look like for Pak?
Here’s our complete guide to the NFT artist known as Pak.
Key Insights
- Pseudonymous individual or team
- Made their NFT debut in February 2020
- Sold The Merge for $91.8 million USD in December 2021
- Sold The Clock to AssangeDAO for $52.8 million USD in February 2022
- Considered, alongside Beeple, to be one of the most prestigious NFT artists in the world
Who is Pak?
Pak is the pseudonymous identity of an unknown digital creator. Little is known about Pak – we don’t even know if Pak is an individual or a team of creators – though we do know that Pak has been largely active over the past 10 years.
The first known work from Pak came to prominence in 2014. Since then, Pak’s work has only grown in scope, ambition, and importance.
NFTs produced by Pak tend to focus less on visual aesthetics, and more on meaning, impact and purpose – using the medium of NFT collectibles to the fullest extent. Pak NFTs are often algorithmically-generated or use geometric shapes – though it is often their ability to change based on real-world events that has solidified them as some of the most important NFT artworks in the world.
What has Pak accomplished so far?
The earliest known creation from Pak came in the form of internet bot Archillect, which debuted in 2014. This bot searches social media platforms to compile and create fresh, engagement-driven content – and it has grown to become an incredibly popular tool over the past 10 years.
Pak made their NFT debut in February 2020, minting Cloud Monument Dark on SuperRare. Despite the relative size of the NFT art market at the time, Pak’s work made an immediate impact, quickly becoming one of the most recognisable names in the industry. During 2020, Pak is also credited with introducing Beeple to the NFT industry – who would go on to become the world’s leading NFT artist.
Many of Pak’s early works are considered to have either pioneered, or helped to popularise, many NFT innovations that are commonplace today. These include time-limited sales, open editions, dynamic NFTs and more.
Entering 2021, Pak created The Fungible – a 48-hour open edition NFT to herald Sotheby’s first NFT auction. Collectively, the piece raised a staggering $16.8 million USD. Pak’s partnership with Sotherby’s has been a long and fruitful one, which has included auctions for works such as The Pixel and The Switch, plus the October 2021 launch of the Sotheby’s Metaverse.
In December 2021, Pak created their most noteworthy NFT to date, titled Merge. Available on Nifty Gateway for just 48 hours, Merge saw buyers acquire “mass units”, with the art of the resulting merged NFT determined by the transaction data and the number of “mass units” purchased.
312,686 mass units of Merge were purchased by 28,983 buyers, bringing in $91.8 million USD. If you consider Merge as a single NFT sale – as opposed to multiple individual sales – this makes Merge the single most expensive NFT ever sold.
Pak followed Merge with perhaps their most impactful works – the February 2022 series known as Censored, held to raise money in support of Julian Assange. One NFT in this collection, titled The Clock, counted the number of days that Assange had been held in prison. It was sold for 16,593 ETH – worth $52.8 million USD at the time – to AssangeDAO, a global online community of Assange supporters.
The success of Censored in assisting Assange’s fight for freedom established Pak as one of the most revered NFT artists in the world – and one that consistently innovated, brought the community together, and drove meaningful change.
Pak’s use of NFT technology has arguably done as much to help legitimize the industry as any other innovation in NFT history. By using NFTs as a medium to fight for causes they believe in, Pak has helped to uplift the whole of the NFT industry, inspiring countless artists to follow in their path and shaping the digital art space we know today.
What does the future hold for Pak?
Though Pak’s prominence in the NFT industry has fallen away over the past several years, the impact of their work can still very much be felt today.
Some of the innovations that Pak helped to popularise have made a huge impact on the creation and sale of NFT art. These include time-limited sales, open editions, and the “mass unit” concept introduced by Merge. Pak’s work has continually pushed technical boundaries – which has no doubt inspired countless other artists to do the same.
Pak occupies a rarified air at the pinnacle of the NFT art industry, and few will ever match them. Pak’s influence, ambition, and impact cannot be understated – and whatever the future may bring, Pak will forever have a rightful place as one of the most important figures in NFT history.
Riding crypto waves since 2012, bridging digital and physical worlds through prose.