Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) creator, Yuga Labs, broke the internet over the weekend after its hotly anticipated NFT drop raked in over $310 million. More details during this piece
The Largest Mint In NFT History
Yuga Labs, creators of high-profile NFT Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), minted its first round of Otherdeeds NFT on Saturday, April 30, 2022. Before the drop, the Otherdeeds NFTs were among the most anticipated assets in the NFT space, and the outcome of the drop is something that doesn’t come as a surprise to many people.
The first round of Otherdeeds NFT featured 55,000 NFTs available only to pre-approved wallets. The Otherdeeds NFT could be purchased only in ApeCoin (APE), and until recently, the asset’s actual price was unknown. As a result, the price of APE increased dramatically in the weeks leading up to the mint.
Each NFT went for 305 APE apiece, which was just under $20 at the time of the mint, and the drop brought in over $310 million for Yuga Labs. Rumour has it that the Otherdeed NFT represents land in the Otherside metaverse, although this is yet to be confirmed.
Otherside is a highly anticipated virtual world that will incorporate the brand imaging of various high-profile NFT favorites, including Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Meebits, Cool Cats, Crypto Punks, etc.
The public expects Yuga labs to release more details on the Otherside metaverse in the nearest future. All we know for now is that Yuga labs are developing the project in partnership with Animoca Brands, the Hong-Kong based venture capital company responsible for the popular yet unreleased metaverse game, Sandbox.
More On The Otherdeeds NFT Drop
The Otherdeeds NFT sold for a flat price; however, Yuga Labs had intended to make the asset available via other means. The initial plan was to launch the asset via Dutch Auction, but Yuga Labs abandoned that plan when it became clear that it would only result in a “gas war of epic proportions.”
The entire NFT space expected the Yuga Labs Otherdeeds NFT mint to be one of the largest NFT mints in history, and it did not fall short of expectations. Despite efforts to prevent a “gas war of epic proportions,” gas prices still spiked during the sale, and the demand for the NFT was such that the Ethereum analytics platform, Etherscan, crashed at one point.
The mint followed a rigorous procedure, and only users who pre-registered before April 1 were eligible to participate, and the deeds could only be purchased using ApeCoin (APE).
The Aftermath Of The Drop
ApeCoin DAO launched ApeCoin in March 2022. The organization shares no affiliation with Yuga Labs, and the latter has put out statements to reiterate that fact.
The value of Apecoin crashed since its launch, reducing to $17 per Apecoin at one point and negatively affecting Yuga Labs’ earnings by more than $23 million.
