Yuga Labs Otherside NFTs top $285 mln; over $175 mln in ETH gas guzzled

Yuga Labs’ long-awaited metaverse project Otherside debuted on Saturday in a non-fungible token (NFT) land sale to generate US$285 million but also clogged the Ethereum network to cost investors millions in gas fees.

See relates article: Bored Apes creator to launch new metaverse ‘Otherside’

Fast facts

• Traders snapped up a limited supply of 55,000 “Otherdeeds” NFTs that represent virtual land in the metaverse project.
• Available for purchase only in ApeCoin (APE), the project’s currency, each was sold for 305 APE, or roughly US$7,000 at the time.
• Both APE and the NFTs run on the Ethereum network, and gas fees related to the project tallied over US$175 million, according to reports citing Etherscan data.
• Yuga Labs has apologized for congesting the Ethereum network and suggested migrating to its own blockchain.
• After reaching its post-launch high of US$26.91 before the launch, APE dropped in value after Yuga Labs’ tweeted the NFTs would be sold at a flat price rather than a Dutch auction and was trading at US$15.86 at press time.
• Leading NFT marketplace OpenSea also recently announced they would also accept APE on its platform.

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