March 8, 2023
By Sharan Kaur Phillora
Yuga Labs’ controversial auction of its first bitcoin NFT project ended on Monday, with some 289 successful bidders securing several pieces in a limited collection. Bidders collectively spent over $16.5 million in BTC.
Here’s what we know:
The collection, titled Twelvefold, attracted more than 3,200 bids. According to a Yuga Labs spokesperson, the highest and lowest successful bids were 7.1 BTC ($159,000) and 2.2 BTC ($50,000).
Yuga Labs said in an official statement that 289 bidders would receive their bitcoin NFTs this week. Of the remaining 11 inscriptions in the 300-count limited series, some will be kept for contributors, while others will be distributed as part of the company’s philanthropic efforts.
Twelve of the NFTs were minted into the bitcoin blockchain through Ordinals, a project launched in January to help creators mine their art pieces into bitcoin by minting them into bitcoin.
Yuga Labs revealed that the 289 NFTs won Monday would be generated from the same code. Further, there shall be no difference in quality between the NFTs won at the higher bid price and the NFTs won at the lower bid price. However, the firm will number and generate each NFT according to its rank in the bidding process.
Hours before the auction, Yuga Labs faced heavy criticism for how it designed the bidding process. Twelvefold Creators initially announced that any interested bidders would be required to submit their bid amount in full in order to be considered eligible for the auction. Yuga Labs promises to return unsuccessful bids within 24 hours of closing the auction.
Casey Rodarmore, the creator of Ordinals, took to Twitter to call out Yuga Labs for implementing such a bidding process. They argued that the NFT creator legalized a process that bad actors could easily manipulate to steal funds from bidders.
About the author
Sharan Kaur Phillora’s thirst for knowledge has led her to study many different subjects, including NFTs and Blockchain technology – two emerging technologies that will change how we interact with each other in the future. When she isn’t exploring a new idea or concept, she enjoys reading literary masterpieces.
