NFT Artists, Projects Celebrate Ethereum Merge With Historic Mints

The historic moment was commemorated by artists such as Beeple

article-image

Beeple’s post-Merge NFTs | Source: Beeple

share

key takeaways

  • A user paid 36.8 ETH in gas fees to mint the first PoS NFT on Ethereum
  • The first NFT collection on PoS Ethereum is bullish on Ethereum’s dominance of NFT market

The first transaction of an NFT minted on the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus was confirmed within four seconds after the Ethereum Merge

The official timestamp for the Merge was 6:42 am UTC on Thursday at block 15537393. One user quickly paid 36.8 ether (ETH), or $53,403.13 at the time, to purchase an NFT bearing a panda face — symbolic of the Merge — at block 15537394.

Loading Tweet..

That prompted another Twitter user to ask, “Is Panda the new Ape?” in reference to the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. Others called it a “historic” and “epic” move. 

Popular NFT artist Beeple ran with the panda imagery in his own rendition of a proof-of-stake illustration, depicting a giant cyborg panda.

He celebrated the Merge with a second graphic of an Ethereum logo under construction.

While one niche NFT project, VanityBlocks, succeeded in tokenizing the final Ethereum proof-of-work block, another project claims it is the first NFT collection on PoS Ethereum. 

Let the PoS NFTs bloom

Developed “in the pursuit of minimizing our impact on our environment,” the Web3-native lifestyle brand named Bloom consists of 3,003 anime-style avatars. The founders have airdropped them all since the Merge. 

In a Twitter Spaces session on Thursday, the founders mentioned that they chose Ethereum to launch Bloom because of its market dominance.

“At the end of the day, where the most volume is, where the most traffic is, and where the most economic value is — it’s all on Ethereum.” 

Loading Tweet..

With a 0.5 floor price, Bloom is ranking in the top ten collections with the most trading volume in the past 24 hours on OpenSea, under Mutant Ape Yacht Club but above Otherdeed and Otherside Yuga Labs collections. 

All week, but especially within the last 24 hours, another collection called RENGA has topped OpenSea’s volume board. Launched pre-Merge on Sept. 2, the RENGA project has steadily grown as holders of RENGA Black Box NFTs burn their tokens in exchange for a RENGA profile picture. 

The Black Box collection currently has recorded a post-Merge sales volume of nearly 900 ETH in the past 24 hours and has a market capitalization of 8,874 ETH or $12.6 million, as per NFTGo data.

It is yet to be determined how much more desirable NFTs on PoS may be; now that the network is using over 99% less energy, NFTs have also become greener.

Otherwise, the Merge should have no effect on NFTs minted on Ethereum.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Nillion_DeSci_Report_Template.png

Research

Nillion’s Monad Integration is poised to catalyze the next phase of DeSci’s evolution by eliminating key privacy bottlenecks. This synergy allows researchers, institutions, and DAOs to exchange sensitive data and insights securely while managing governance and payments onchain.

article-image

StarkWare launches new consumer-grade hardware ZK prover

article-image

Bitcoin’s creator may have had a powerful mining trick up his sleeve

article-image

Maple said it closed its first tranche of bitcoin-backed financing through Cantor’s new Bitcoin financing business on Tuesday

article-image

Gemini’s State of Crypto report found that memecoins and a friendlier US are helping to drive crypto adoption globally

article-image

A single upgrade could reshape how Solana sequences, votes and finalizes.

article-image

Crypto industry members and city officials gathered to talk about how the city can leverage crypto and blockchain technology