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Welcome to part 2 of our 3-part series on the best NFT mints of the year. 

For part 1, and more info on how we made the rankings, go here. 

Without further ado…

The 38 Best NFTs of 2023 (Part 2)

24. FRESH HELL by XCOPY

XCOPY has been giving off serious “he is him” energy ever since he began dominating sales charts back in 2021. And 2023 was no exception. 

The FRESH HELL collection, which includes both SIMULACRUM and ALGO BRO, was not only his first independent release in a while but also the first time XCOPY dropped fully onchain art since first joining the scene in 2018. 

Still the same ‘COPY, now even more durable.

Check it out: OpenSea

23. Bitcoin Wizards by u/mavensbot

Many moons ago, Bitcoin enthusiasts gathered in a niche subreddit branded with a poorly drawn wizard and the words “Join Us” scribbled on it. 

This iconic character is now the mascot for Taproot Wizards, perhaps the most highly anticipated upcoming Bitcoin collection. 

But it also shows up in Bitcoin Wizards. And while at first glance it might seem like just another derivative, this collection is special in that it was released by the actual artist behind the iconic Reddit design back in 2013. 

Provenance baby.

Check it out: Magic Eden

22. The Broken Keys by Alpha Centauri Kid 

I remember May 2023 being a brutal month for NFTs that caused most rational participants to run for cover. 

Except for ACK, who said f*ck it and launched The Broken Keys: a set of piano-themed 1/1s featuring a contrast of lush tones and human skulls (plus a singular feet pic). 

The result? Over 700 ETH in sales and a reminder to crypto artists that maybe it isn’t all over (yet).

Check it out: pianos.ack.art 

21. alignDraw by Elman Mansimov

The first ever text-to-image artworks created by AI, circa 2015. 

These blurry, pixelated images are both: 

1. amusing in their utter failure to capture the reality of the prompts and

2. an unsettling reminder of the insane progress these models have seen in just eight years

One for those who want to own cave paintings made by an alien intelligence.

Check it out: Fellowship

20. Yamabushi’s Horizons by Richard Nadler

The most impactful drop for verse, which is our pick for breakout gallery of the year.  

You could argue that the success of Yamabushi’s Horizons lies in its visual metaphors, merging deep Japanese lore and AI with a threaded style that gives a sense of traditional craftsmanship.

But it’s simpler than that. Just show these to a friend and witness the near-unanimous delight they evoke, which isn’t something to be taken for granted. 

To phrase it eloquently: a true banger.

Check it out: verse

19. The Harvest by Per Kristian Stoveland 

One of the first Art Blocks Curated drops of the year ended up being one of the best. 

This 400-piece collection captures a moment of awe as colorful beams of light slam into desolate landscapes. 

Mystical and sci-fi elements fuse together with enough visual diversity that it’s difficult to find a single output we don’t like.

Check it out: OpenSea

18. Ordinal Maxi Biz

A hugely popular memecult that quickly understood the Ordinals movement. 

Very rough around the edges, as seen by the lo-fi scuffed PFPs based on the original Cryptopunks. 

No royalties, no roadmaps, no cheesy attempts at selling metaverse land or getting a Netflix show or whatever else PFP communities try to do. 

The vibes feel effortless and reflect the counterculture ethos growing on Bitcoin.

Check it out: Magic Eden

17. Bytegans by Pindar Van Arman

There’s a sense of purity to Bytegans, which as far as I know is the first fully onchain AI collection. 

At the technical level, Van Arman was able to compress each of the 1,111 animations to an 11x11, eleven-frame, one-kilobyte gif. 

At the philosophical level, he chose vibes over a six-figure payout by not enforcing royalties, even though he pioneered an early enforcement standard with SuperRare.

And visually, he reduced everything until he reached the fewest number of pixels possible for a skull outline.

Check it out: OpenSea

16. Themes and Variations Vera Molnar

The only NFT collection by the late Vera Molnar, who passed away on December 7. 

This piece was a gesture toward the new onchain movement, and touched on questions Vera had been exploring throughout her entire generative art career stretching back to 1968. 

Themes was also the first onchain art drop from Sotheby’s, one of the largest auction houses in the world. 

A beautiful passing-of-the-baton moment, in more ways than one.

Check it out: OpenSea

15. Nike Our Force 1

Nike was the first brand to get into NFTs (all the way back in 2019), but this was the year they finally launched their ecosystem (.SWOOSH) in a big way.

While most big brands canceled their web3 initiatives, Nike managed to sell over 70,000 genesis NFTs and sign partnerships with Fortnite and EA Games. 

A thoughtful start to a long marriage between sneakerheads and onchain collectibles.

Check it out: OpenSea

14. Mad Lads

The new top dawg collection on Solana, which is in the middle of its comeback arc following all the SBF shenanigans last year. 

These comic book style PFPs come from Coral, the tech startup behind Backpack wallet, an all-in-one app popularizing xNFTs. 

It’s a proof of concept not just for their wallet, but also for the idea of using a meme-aligned community to evangelize a software product. 

And so far it’s working beautifully.

Check it out: Magic Eden

13. OCM Dimensions

A PFP mint that delighted crypto nerds around the globe with its ridiculously long list of technical achievements, including: 

1. Pioneering recursion and composability on Bitcoin

2. First to enable compression and p5.js onchain

3. First inscriptions to do a random onchain reveal after mint 

4. One of the first parent-child Ordinals collections 

Hard to find another collection that’s done more to expand the Ordinals design space.

Check it out: Magic Eden

12. Memeland Captainz

Managing expectations while building a hype train is an art, and there aren't many who do it better than Ray, the founder of Memeland.

Captainz sits at the center of Memeland’s vast world of expensive JPEGs and nailed that balancing act between identity and utility which many other PFPs fail to achieve. 

Specifically, it led to one of the only successful NFT token launches so far, with holders receiving lucrative airdrops from the ecosystem’s memecoin (unironically called $MEME).

Check it out: OpenSea

11. Parallel – Base Starter Decks

Parallel was born out of the 2021 hype cycle, and looking back it still feels silly that people spent millions on an unreleased trading card game with zero gameplay and (basically) no buyer safety. 

But their demo in 2023 proved early buyers correct – this might be the best web3 game we’ve played.

They had multiple drops this year, but their Base Starter Decks sparked a new wave of belief by allowing people into the game's beta en-masse.

Check it out: OpenSea

Stay tuned for the top remaining 10 tomorrow…

And as always, here’s what’s…

👉️ MINTING TODAY