On Saturday April 30, the creators of Bored Ape, Yuga Labs broke Ethereum. Their new metaverse-inspired project, Otherside, sold virtual plots of land to a roaring crowd of people shouting “Shut up and take my money!” In this case, the currency in question was the recently created ApeCoin. However, since Ethereum hosts ApeCoin and terrestrial NFTs, the roaring crowd needed ETH to pay for the gas fees of operations.
If you know Ethereum, you already know what happened. According to IntoTheBlock’s Lucas Outumuro, “The Bored Ape’s Otherside land sale led to more fees processed by Ethereum in three hours than in the previous two weeks.” Of course, all hell broke loose. Gas prices across the network skyrocketed, many deals failed causing people to lose their gas fees, and others just couldn’t afford to hit the NFT lands they were entitled to. .
At the end of the day, the Otherside NFT virtual plots, known as Otherdeeds, sold out. The Ethereum network pocketed around $125 million in gas fees alone. He didn’t survive the madness unscathed, however. Several Ethereum-based projects reported failures and/or slowed operations and Etherscan, Ethereum’s block explorer, crashed completely. “We are sorry to have turned off the lights of Ethereum for a while,” Bored Ape creators Yuga Labs said.
Origins on the Other Side
In March, Yuga Labs raised a $450 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz to build Otherside. Apparently, it’s a Metaverse project in the vein of Decentraland and The Sandbox, but with a Play-To-Earn element built in from the start. That same month, they created the deceased http://somethingisbrewing.xyz/ ask people to KYC themselves and link their personal information to their Ethereum addresses.
These registered addresses were entitled to hit two plots of land in the Otherside Playground. Bored Ape holders each received two free plots. There are a total of 55K Otherdeeds. To mint each, it costs 305 ApeCoin, plus gas fees from the Ethereum network. Although it was expensive, considering Yuga Lab’s successes, it seemed like a bargain.
Until gas prices reach unaffordable levels, that is.
ETH price chart on FTX | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com
Bored Ape creators Yuga Labs talk
After selling everything, smashing everything, and leaving humble collectors landless, the creators of Bored Ape have responded to the controversy with this brief Twitter thread.
We know that the Otherdeed mint was unprecedented in size as a high-demand NFT collection, and that would bring unique challenges.
— Yuga Laboratories (@yugalabs) May 1, 2022
Among other things, Yuga Labs said:
- Even though they took the mentioned KYC measures, too many people wanted to participate. “This is the largest NFT mint in multiple multiple history, yet the gas used during mint shows far exceeded anyone’s wildest expectations.”
- Soon, ApeCoin will stop being an Ethereum token and become a full-fledged cryptocurrency. “It seems quite clear that ApeCoin will need to migrate to its own chain to scale properly. ”
We are sorry to have turned off the Ethereum lights for a while. It seems quite clear that ApeCoin will need to migrate to its own chain to scale properly. We would like to encourage the DAO to start thinking in this direction.
— Yuga Laboratories (@yugalabs) May 1, 2022
- They will reimburse gas costs for unsuccessful operations. “For those of you concerned, we appreciate your willingness to build alongside us – know that we’ve got you covered and we’ll refund your gas.”
- In a subsequent tweet, Yuga Labs announced that the gas refund process had already begun. “Note that you don’t have to do anything – we’ll transfer this all to your wallet and let you know when it’s finished. Don’t click on any links.
We are still working on refunding all Otherdeed coiners whose transactions have failed their gas. Note that you don’t have to do anything – we’ll transfer it all to your wallet and let you know when it’s finished. Do not click on any links.
— Yuga Laboratories (@yugalabs) May 2, 2022
Even though it looks like the creators of Bored Ape are doing the right thing, it’s worth noting that people receiving said refunds weren’t able to purchase an Otherdeed NFT and the collection ran out. They can still get them in the secondary market at a higher price, but the community isn’t happy.
Bored Ape users speak
The following is a select selection of opinions on the launch. Most of these people are Bored Ape rich and heavily invested in the Yuga Labs ecosystem, but they are worried. Let’s summarize what they said.
- According to Ap3father, “The drop went incredibly wrong. That’s the truth of it all. Plus, “this drop did nothing to further help the already popular Yuga community cast…the same 27 ,5,000 people bought..” However, he reflected, “Yuga Labs made me a millionaire. I am more than spoiled, humbled and blessed to be in this situation because of them.
The fall went incredibly badly. This is the truth of it all. The original thesis was that there weren’t enough KYC wallets for it to sell in wave 1.. not only was that incorrect… It sold with 2+E in the gas all the way …a nightmarish scenario…
– ap3father.eth (@ap3father) May 1, 2022
His conclusion is that “the community reacted horribly to this mint.” And his advice is to sell: “You may have millions in NFT and that’s exceptional, but hold on to reality. When you die one day…they don’t bury you in the metaverse my friend. “He’s got extra Bored Apes, so he’s not going anywhere. “I’m excited to both sell monkeys and continue my journey to the other side.”
- For his part, Irish expressed his distrust. “How are the greatest innovators in space not planning a gas war? You literally have every address, every KYC’d ID. Offer each KYCd 2 lands? And tried to get Yuga Labs to honor his promise to sell him an Otherdeed, “We hear how you’re ‘fixing’ I’m glad you’re paying for failed trades! Admit your mint mistake.
I spent 3 hours constantly cooling off and trying like many here. If you really want to spread to wallets, leave those KYC mints. We should have been given 2 weeks. And put on the list of authorized mints on the contract. The same way Gary Vee did, you chose the PR nightmare instead.
— Irish (@Irishmikeys) May 2, 2022
- On the other hand, 3433 defended Yuga Labs. “Yuga let us hit BAYC for 0.08, they gave us dogs to claim currently worth 9 ETH, they gave us free serums worth 57 ETH to drink or keep/sell who made mutants, worth 30 ETH, they gave us $100-200,000 worth of $APE coin.
Sure, maybe the mint could have been better, we could have had a Cue/Raffle system, but at the end of the day, every successful mint on ETH is a fucking shitshow, we all know that.
— 3433.eth 🍌 ☕️ (@boredape3433) May 1, 2022
Vitalik Buterin speaks
- Finally, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin defended the Yuga Labs smart contract that governed the entire operation. “Regardless of the details of the contract, the tax charge increases up to list price + tax charge = market price. If the gas consumption per purchase had decreased by 2 times, the equilibrium gas price would have just been > 12,000 gwei instead of 6,000.”
Don’t think optimizing the contract would help. Regardless of the contract details, the tax charge increases to list price + tax charge = market price. If the gas consumption per purchase had decreased by 2x, the equilibrium gas price would have just been > 12,000 gwei instead of 6,000.
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) May 1, 2022
Nevertheless, the creators of Bored Ape seem quite determined to create their own blockchain. Some people even suggest that they orchestrated this whole situation to justify and market it.
Featured Image: Bored Ape's metaverse Otherside logo from the site | Charts by TradingView