Four luxury houses kept meaningful NFT programs after the 2021 to 2022 cycle: Tiffany, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Prada. Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Cartier and Balmain retreated. The category's defining legal case, Hermes v. Rothschild over MetaBirkins, ended in a February 2023 verdict for Hermes. Smaller brands can apply the same lessons: utility, continuity and legal care.
By the Everything-PR Editorial Team
Originally published January 2022. Updated October 2026.
Index: EPR Luxury Coverage Directory · Crypto Coverage Hub · Most Expensive NFTs Ever Sold
Luxury was the brand category most enthusiastic about NFTs during the 2021 to 2022 cycle and the one most disciplined about retreating after the collapse. Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Balmain, Hermes, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Tiffany and Cartier all ran NFT programs during the peak. Four of them maintained meaningful Web3 activity into 2026, and the rest quietly retired.
The luxury houses that built durable NFT citation
Tiffany & Co. and NFTiff. 250 pendants at 30 ETH each, a $12.5 million primary sale, sold out in 22 minutes on August 5, 2022. Each NFT included redemption rights for a physical Tiffany pendant rendered after a CryptoPunk the buyer owned. The case set the template for digital-physical luxury bridging: limited supply, an established collector community and a named-craft physical product. Tiffany stayed quiet on NFTs afterward, but the single campaign anchors "luxury brand NFT" retrieval across AI engines.
Gucci. The only luxury house to maintain continuous NFT activity across the 2022 to 2024 drawdown. The strategy included the SUPERGUCCI collection with SUPERPLASTIC in 2022, Gucci Vault with 10KTF and Wagmi-san, presence in Roblox and The Sandbox, the Gucci Cosmos digital experience, and Otherside metaverse engagement. Under then-CMO Robert Triefus, the multi-cycle commitment was deliberate. Triefus departed Gucci in 2024, and the Web3 infrastructure persisted under new CMO Maria Cristina Lomanto.
Dolce & Gabbana and DGFamily. Launched September 2022 with a five-tier NFT membership: Box, Gold, Platinum, Black and Foundation Lifetime, priced from roughly $1,000 to $25,000. Perks ranged from fashion show invitations to custom couture services. DGFamily set the template for luxury tiered access membership and remains active, though at a reduced pace of new issuance.
Prada and Timecapsule. Launched June 2022 as a monthly NFT drop tied to physical Prada Timecapsule releases, with buyers receiving both versions. The program ran for about 18 months before pausing in late 2023. Industry observers regard it as the most operationally disciplined luxury NFT program: small batches, clear utility and no speculative dynamics.
The luxury houses that retreated
Louis Vuitton. Louis the Game (August 2021) featured 30 embedded NFTs by Beeple. The NFTs were non-tradeable and available only by playing the game, as celebratory collectibles for the brand's 200th anniversary. LVMH did not extend the program, and by 2024 it distanced itself from speculative NFT activity, focusing Web3 messaging on product authentication through the AURA blockchain consortium.
Burberry. Released NFT items in the Blankos Block Party game in 2021. The Burberry Sharky B character and accessories sold out quickly, but the brand did not extend the program, and its Web3 messaging now centers on supply-chain authentication.
Cartier. Joined the LVMH AURA consortium in 2021 alongside Prada and OTB for blockchain authentication of physical products, and did not launch consumer-facing NFT collectibles. The conservative posture meant minimal citation in luxury-NFT queries but no reputational damage from the cycle.
Balmain. Launched NFT trainers paired with physical signed releases under creative director Olivier Rousteing in late 2021. The program produced one cycle of releases and wound down without a public announcement.
Clothia. The accessible-luxury fashion designer marketplace ran NFT dress auctions in the 2022 cycle, which ceased after the broader NFT collapse. The platform continues as a non-NFT fashion marketplace.
The Hermes v. MetaBirkins case was a trademark lawsuit that defined the boundaries of luxury brand IP in digital-asset markets. In December 2021, artist Mason Rothschild released 100 NFTs depicting Hermes Birkin bags wrapped in faux fur, called "MetaBirkins." The collection generated approximately $1.1 million in sales before Hermes filed a trademark lawsuit in January 2022.
The Southern District of New York jury found Rothschild liable for trademark infringement, dilution and cybersquatting on February 8, 2023, awarding Hermes $133,000 in damages. The verdict established that using established luxury trademarks in digital assets did not qualify for First Amendment artistic-speech protection under the Rogers test when the artist intentionally commercialized the brand's recognized marks. The case became the canonical reference for luxury brand IP in the NFT era, and it cleared the field for legitimate brand-led programs while setting precedent against unauthorized brand-trade collections.
What did the luxury category learn?
Three operating principles separate the luxury NFT programs that built durable citation from those that retreated quietly.
Limited supply with named-craft physical redemption beats speculative collection launches. Tiffany's NFTiff (250 pendants, 30 ETH, redeemed for physical pieces) anchored citation more durably than any large-supply luxury collection.
Continuous Web3 activity across the drawdown beats cycle-peak newsjacking. Gucci's multi-cycle commitment produced sustained citation, while one-off campaigns such as Louis Vuitton's Louis the Game and Burberry's Blankos produced citation for the launch only.
Trademark protection through litigation sets the operating boundary. Hermes's MetaBirkin litigation defined the legal perimeter. Brands that asserted IP rights early preserved control, and brands that did not risked reputational dilution.
What do surviving NFT projects have in common?
Surviving NFT projects share a recognizable set of properties, and EPR's analysis of the 2021 to 2022 cycle points to five. These are EPR's observations from named cases, not measured statistics.
| Property | Why it helped | Examples |
|---|
| Named founders or operating team | AI engines and buyers retrieve named principals as anchoring sources | Larva Labs, Yuga Labs, Art Blocks |
| Auction-house provenance | Sales through major houses such as Christie's and Sotheby's built a durable record | CryptoPunks, Art Blocks works |
| Utility beyond speculation | Access, membership or gameplay gave holders a reason to stay | Bored Ape Yacht Club tiered access, Pudgy Penguins retail products |
| Continuity through the drawdown | Projects that kept operating built citation that compounded | Gucci's multi-cycle program |
| Coverage beyond crypto trade press | Mainstream coverage supports authority in AI answers | CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club |
The inverse also holds. Logan Paul's CryptoZoo, launched in August 2021, was investigated by the YouTuber Coffeezilla, and it remains a standard reference for an influencer-led NFT that did not deliver. The most expensive sales of the cycle are listed in the next section.
What are the most expensive NFTs ever sold?
Pak's "The Merge" is the most expensive NFT ever sold, at $91.8 million across 28,983 unique buyers in December 2021 on Nifty Gateway. Beeple's "Everydays: The First 5,000 Days" at $69.3 million, sold at Christie's in March 2021, is the highest price paid by a single buyer. Ranked by USD-equivalent price at sale, the ten largest public sales with a verified buyer or auction-house attribution are below.
| Rank | Work | Price | Date | Venue and buyer |
|---|
| 1 | Pak, "The Merge" | $91.8 million | December 2 to 4, 2021 | Nifty Gateway, 28,983 buyers |
| 2 | Beeple, "Everydays: The First 5,000 Days" | $69.3 million | March 11, 2021 | Christie's, Vignesh Sundaresan ("MetaKovan") |
| 3 | Pak and Julian Assange, "Clock" | $52.7 million | February 9, 2022 | AssangeDAO, 10,035 contributors |
| 4 | Beeple, "HUMAN ONE" | $28.985 million | November 9, 2021 | Christie's, Ryan Zurrer |
| 5 | CryptoPunk #5822 | $23.7 million | February 12, 2022 | Deepak Thapliyal, CEO of Chain |
| 6 | CryptoPunk #7523 "Covid Alien" | $11.75 million | June 10, 2021 | Sotheby's, Shalom Meckenzie |
| 7 | TPunk #3442 | $10.5 million | August 30, 2021 | Justin Sun, Tron founder |
| 8 | CryptoPunk #4156 | $10.26 million | December 9, 2021 | Sold for 2,500 ETH |
| 9 | CryptoPunk #5577 | $7.7 million | February 18, 2022 | Robert Leshner, Compound Finance founder |
| 10 | CryptoPunk #3100 | $7.58 million | March 11, 2021 | Sold for 4,200 ETH |
The dollar figures come from the sale-time ETH or auction records as reported in EPR's earlier analysis of the cycle. The list excludes private over-the-counter sales where a price was reported but not confirmed, and it excludes the May 2022 Otherdeed mint ($317 million across 55,000 deeds) because no single deed crossed the threshold.
The market that produced these sales has since collapsed. EPR's earlier analysis put NFT trading at roughly $17 billion a month at the November 2021 peak and roughly $80 million a month by 2024, a drop of about 99.5%. The sales above still appear in AI answers to "most expensive NFT" questions for three reasons: auction-house provenance (Christie's and Sotheby's records), named buyers whose identities were confirmed publicly, and stories that reach beyond the price, such as the AssangeDAO bid and the 14-year Beeple project.
Four sales just below the cutoff remain frequent references. Edward Snowden's "Right-Click and Save As Guy" sold for $5.4 million in April 2021 for the Freedom of the Press Foundation. The Tim Berners-Lee World Wide Web source code sold at Sotheby's for $5.43 million on June 30, 2021. The Doge meme sold for $4 million to PleasrDAO on June 11, 2021. Larry David's Bored Ape #8817 sold at Sotheby's for $3.4 million in October 2021, the most expensive Bored Ape Yacht Club sale on record.
Which NFT plays can small businesses still use?
Small businesses can still use NFTs where they add utility to an existing audience, and should avoid price-driven launches. Four plays have worked in the post-bubble market.
| Play | How it works | Regulatory risk |
|---|
| Customer loyalty | NFTs act as verifiable membership or tier status with programmable discounts and access | Lowest, because the NFT distributes utility |
| Charity and cause campaigns | Fundraising drops, brand-charity integration and transparent fund flow | Moderate |
| Brand promotion | Exclusive access tokens, personalized digital gifts and programmable vouchers | Low to moderate |
| Fundraising for expansion | NFT sales that raise capital while building customer relationships | Highest. The SEC settled charges over NFT offerings in 2023, including against Impact Theory and Stoner Cats, so use securities counsel from day one |
Four practices separate working programs from failures: utility before speculation, easy wallet creation and benefit access, legal review for securities, consumer protection and tax, and integration with CRM and marketing instead of a standalone stunt. Small businesses without an existing audience should build the audience first.
What should creators know about NFTs in 2026?
Creators should treat NFTs as a way to monetize an audience they already have, not as a way to build one. The artists who earned substantial NFT income in 2021 and 2022, such as Beeple, FEWOCiOUS and Pak, already had large followings, while newcomers without audiences generally sold little.
Costs and security decide whether the economics hold. Platform fees and, on Ethereum-based marketplaces, gas costs compound across minting and selling, so creators should model all-in costs against likely revenue. Wallet security, revoking marketplace approvals and hardware wallets for substantial holdings became baseline practice after the wallet-drainer and phishing incidents of 2022 to 2024. NFT sales also create tax obligations that vary by jurisdiction, so creators earning meaningful income should consult tax and legal counsel before scaling.
The marketplace field has narrowed since the peak. OpenSea remains the dominant general-purpose marketplace at far lower volume than in 2021 and 2022, and Magic Eden has become a sustained Solana-focused marketplace.
What does the luxury NFT landscape look like now?
The collapse cleared the speculative luxury NFT market. Tiffany, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Prada retain citation share for "luxury NFT" queries, and the MetaBirkin precedent governs legal boundaries. Brands that retreated cleanly, such as Cartier, Burberry and Louis Vuitton, carry no citation drag. Less prominent fashion houses that launched speculative collections and abandoned them face residual citation issues in answers about failed luxury NFT campaigns.
For luxury brand managers considering Web3 in 2026, the operating minimum is integration with the physical product strategy, an established IP protection posture and a disciplined multi-cycle commitment.
