ApeCoin (APE), the governance token of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), has plunged as much as 11 percent after a catastrophic NFT sale by Yuga Labs.
Single NFT Collection Shuts Down Ethereum
The price drop came shortly after Yuga Labs (the company behind BAYC) made over US$550 million with the sale of “Otherdeeds“, a new Ethereum-based NFT collection that’s part of the Otherside metaverse.
However, the sale came with a few problems. The NFTs sold at a fixed price of 305 ApeCoin, or roughly US$7,000 each, but the high demand congested the Ethereum network to the point of rendering it practically useless:
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.
— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) May 1, 2022
Up to $14k in Gas Fees
Users reported paying gas fees from up to US$9,000 to $14,000, while others saw their transactions declined as a result of high network traffic. Yuga Labs said it would refund gas to affected users, but didn’t disclose when:
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.
— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) May 1, 2022
Over 71,000 ETH – approximately US$200 million at time of writing – was paid in gas fees, a new record for the Ethereum network. Fees were burned or destroyed, taking $200 million in liquidity out of the market.
While Ethereum gas fees are back to their usual levels, the price of ApeCoin dropped sharply after the event. At press time APE was trading at $14.19, down 4 percent from its recent weekly high, and trading volumes are still in the red with a 34.81 percent drop.
- Bored Ape Yacht Club
- Ethereum (ETH)
- NFTs
- Metaverse
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