With its new Metaverse project, Yuga Labs, the inventor of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club collection of NFTs, is in charge. The company just completed its largest offering to date, raising $320 million through the selling of virtual land.
The sale’s popularity was so high that it slowed down the entire Ethereum network, causing transaction costs to climb once more. Crypto holders of ApeCoin (APE) hurried to purchase 55,000 virtual land parcels in Otherside, the new project’s intended metaverse game. The virtual land plots for sale were offered in the form of Ethereum-based NFTs known as Otherdeeds.
As of last Saturday’s $19 per APE price, each plot cost about $5,800. However, the ApeCoin (APE) price has subsequently corrected and is now trading at $16.39, down percent.
According to a Bloomberg article, the sale cost mint Otherdeed NFTs a whopping $123 million. According to Etherscan, each Otherdeed NFT cost 2 ETH ($6,000) to produce. Jason Wu, the founder of DeFiner, a decentralized lending technology, told Bloomberg:
“Yuga Labs’ virtual land sale has triggered one of the highest spikes in transaction fees on Ethereum. I have seen other NFT launches causing high gas fees, but this is definitely one of the highest.”
All ApeCoins raised during the sale will be locked and will not be able to be sold. For a year, this will dramatically reduce the number of coins in circulation.
Furthermore, in addition to the 55,000 Otherdeeds sold on Saturday, Yuga Labs plans to release another 45,000 to holders of Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape NFTs, as well as project developers. Otherdeed holders will also receive an additional 100,000 ApeCoin tokens from Yuga Labs.
ApeCoin plans to use other digital coins and blockchain networks to integrate with a variety of Web 3 apps. It also functions as the ApeCoin DAO’s governance token.
The ApeCoin was created by Yuga Labs last month, in March 2022. Since then, the price of APE has soared, reaching an all-time high of $26. APE, on the other hand, has already corrected by 40% since then.