Yuga Labs Metaverse Land Sale Rakes in $320 Million, Frenzy Unsettles Ethereum

ApeCoin, in recent days, has seen a significant rise in its value due to rising demand.

Yuga Labs Metaverse Land Sale Rakes in $320 Million, Frenzy Unsettles Ethereum

Photo Credit: YouTube/ Bored Ape Yacht Club

Yuga Labs, are set for a big payday from the sale of the lands on its metaverse project

Highlights
  • The Otherside deed sale was the largest NFT mint to date
  • The Otherside metaverse deeds sale pushed Ethereum fees upwards
  • Gas fees eventually cost more than the NFTs for users
Advertisement

Yuga Labs, the creator of the popular Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) non-fungible token (NFT) collection on April 30 revealed the Otherside metaverse digital land sale which raised roughly $320 million (roughly Rs. 2,450 crore) — making it the largest NFT mints to date through the sale of virtual land. Yuga sold 55,000 blocks of land in its “Otherside” virtual world, which has yet to launch. Ownership of virtual land, issued as NFTs known as “Otherdeeds,” was sold directly by Yuga for a flat price of 305 ApeCoin, valued at about $5,800 (roughly Rs. 4.45 lakh).

There was an unprecedented problem with Ethereum that followed. After the sale, because ApeCoin both resides on the Ethereum blockchain and sells the Otherdeeds on secondary markets such as OpenSea, the “gas fee” or transaction processing cost in Ether shot up to about ETH 2.6 or $7,000 (roughly Rs. 5.35 lakh) per transaction.

The way gas fee works on the Ethereum network is that the higher the bid in Ether, the quicker the transaction is processed. The problem with the Otherverse NFT drop is that suddenly tens of thousands of additional people were on the Ethereum blockchain, bidding to have their transactions go through.

The spike in gas fee resulted in a host of bizarre situations. As per a report by The Verge, some purchases of Otherdeeds cost between ETH 2.6 to ETH 5 ($14,000 or roughly Rs. 10.7 lakh) in gas fees alone — more than the cost of the NFT – and by the time the virtual land deeds sold out, buyers had paid a total of about $123 million (roughly Rs. 940 crore) just to execute their transactions on the Ethereum blockchain.

The spike in Ethereum gas fees resulted in Yuga offering an apology on Twitter while noting that ApeCoin may need to move to its own blockchain.

Yuga Labs made headlines in March when it raised $450 million (roughly Rs. 3,430 crore) in new funding on a $4 billion (roughly Rs. 30,475 crore) valuation from Andreessen Horowitz's a16z crypto, Animoca Brands, The Sandbox, LionTree, Sound Ventures, Thrive Capital, FTX, and MoonPay.


Are affordable smartwatches worth it? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Redmi Pad 5 Tipped to Soon Launch in India; Price, Key Specifications Tipped, Include a 90Hz Display
India’s CBDC Use-Cases Being Explored for ‘Several Commercial Purposes’ Says Nirmala Sitharaman
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »