Yuga Labs and their partners made history on Sunday by selling out what is seen as the largest NFT launch. However, considering the challenges faced during the minting process on the Ethereum blockchain, the NFT creators have revealed it will be necessary for their native ApeCoin to have a blockchain of its own.
A Launch Marred By Fee Hikes And Failed Transactions
On Sunday morning, Yuga Labs, the creators of the BAYC NFTs and now the Otherside project, revealed that the record-breaking Otherdeed NFT launch was sold out. However, the sale was not without hiccups. Several community members experienced failed transactions as high demand caused the network to crash at some point, with minting costing an arm and a leg in Ethereum as fees went to the moon.
Glassnode CTO, Rafael Schultze-Kraft, revealed that the average Ethereum gas fee was around $4,830 per transaction, nearly enough to equal the Otherdeed mint price as Ethereum’s scalability woes came to the fore once again. Ethereum miners, on the other hand, had cause to celebrate as they raked in about $87.6 million in 1 hour, an all-time high according to the Glassnode executive.
The Otherdeed NFT mint, which issued digital deeds for 55,000 plots of Otherside land for 305 ApeCoin ($6000) per mint, was one of the most anticipated NFT and Metaverse events ever. Anticipation for the mint saw the price of the Yuga Labs native token ApeCoin and the floor price of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs surge.
Yuga labs admitted after the sale that the demand beat any expectations they had for the project, including steps they had taken to mitigate challenges that could come from the sheer magnitude of the launch. The BAYC creator said looking at the challenges faced, it was now necessary to consider creating a blockchain for ApeCoin, its native token, to improve scalability.
“We’re sorry for turning off the lights on Ethereum for a while. It seems abundantly clear that ApeCoin will need to migrate to its own chain in order to properly scale. We’d like to encourage the DAO to start thinking in this direction,” said Yuga Labs in a tweet, adding, “We are aware that some users had failed transactions due to the incredible demand being forced through Ethereum’s bottleneck. For those of you affected, we appreciate your willingness to build alongside us – know that we’ve got your back and will be refunding your gas.”
Scammers Also Get In On The Action
As expected, with NFT launches in recent times, bad actors also tried to cash in. According to on-chain investigator zachxbt, at least $6.2 million was lost in NFTs to phishing scams. zachxbt disclosed that the cybercriminals created phishing sites posing as the minting site for the Otherdeed mint.
The on-chain sleuth revealed that at least 19 Azuki NFTs, 5 BAYC NFTs, 6 MAYC NFTs, 30 Sandbox NFTs, and 2 WOW NFTs were stolen by scammers. Presently, there is no word on these events from Yuga Labs. However, while the NFT launch may have been bumpy, the announcement of the group’s intention to create an ApeCoin blockchain will likely increase the long-term bullish sentiment around the token.
