Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, apologized after the sale of of its of metaverse property Otherside temporarily disrupted the ethereum blockchain and sent transaction fees skyrocketing.
'We've Got Your Back'
"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," Yuga Labs said in a tweet. We'd like to encourage the DAO to start thinking in this direction."
DAO stands for decentralized autonomous organization whose aim is to replace the traditional hierarchy of a company.
Yuga Labs said in a follow-up tweet that "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," the tweet said. Gas is basically the fees you pay for a transaction in the crypto space.
In an online sale on April 30, Yuga Labs sold NFTs called "Otherdeeds", which it said could be exchanged as plots of virtual land in a future Bored Ape-themed online environment called "Otherside."
"This has been the largest NFT mint in history by several multiples, and yet the gas used during the mint shows that demand far exceeded anyone’s wildest expectations," Yuga Labs tweeted. "The scale of this mint was so large that Etherscan crashed."
Etherscan is a block explorer and an analytics platform that give people access to details of any transactions on the ethereum blockchain.
'Awestruck at the Demand'
The "Otherdeeds" could only be bought using the project's associated cryptocurrency, called ApeCoin, which launched in March.
All of the 55,000 Otherdeeds were sold out at a price of 305 ApeCoin apiece.
"The Otherdeed NFT mint is sold out - we are awestruck at the demand shown tonight," OthersideMeta tweeted on April 30. "Apes and Mutants, the opening of the 21-day claim period is being delayed until the price of gas drops to reasonable levels. We’ll tweet when the claim opens."
The sale sparked a rise in gas prices with a tweet claiming a person paid a $3,300 transaction fee for a $25 NFT, according to cryptocurrency expert Molly White.
"Say what you will about fiat currency, but I’ve never had to pay VISA thousands of dollars for a $25 purchase," one person responded.
"Transaction fees normally cover the energy cost of the transaction and verification on the blockchain," another person said. "Not all of the fee goes to that of course, but it speaks to massive energy costs for something with no real value."
NFT marketplace OpenSea said it started accepting $APE for the secondary sales of Otherdeed NFT on April 30.
One commenter noted that "Eth gas has always been incredibly expensive."
The Full Gas Fee
"It's why a LOT of people don't use Eth and refuse to use OpenSea," the commenter tweeted. "Even OpenSea's own 'free NFT utility' charges gas. So your NFT minting is free, but you still have to pay the full gas fee."
Another tweet reported a $3,950 transaction fee for a $260 NFT.
"You would think that this should be the point where they realize this is all bullsh*t," one person said. "But well, they don't..."
Yuga Labs makes money by selling the NFTs and also getting a small percentage when the NFT is resold on the blockchain.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club is by far the company's most popular collection.
There are only about 10,000 apes in the collection and the minimum cost to purchase one is 93 ether, or about $224,000. Celebrities like Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon and Eminem all have their own special apes.
Last week, BAYC was hit by hackers who made off with millions of dollars worth of the simian images.
