Bored Ape Creators Slammed for ‘Nightmare’ Ethereum NFT Land Drop, ‘Tone Deaf’ Response

The introduction of NFT virtual land deeds for Yuga Labs’ Otherside—an upcoming metaverse game based on the Bored Ape Yacht Club—on Saturday was the largest NFT drop to date, with total sales volume exceeding $900 million. It wasn’t all plain sailing, either. The frenzied attempt by approved buyers to snap up the valuable NFTs drove up the Ethereum network’s gas fees to startling levels. Yuga Labs offered up 55,000 Ethereum NFT “Otherdeeds” that represent digital terrain in the game, and the frenzied attempt by approved buyers to snap up the valuable NFTs drove up the Ethereum network’s gas fees to startling levels. During the “minting” process, which refers to how new NFTs are minted and sold, some users paid thousands of dollars in fees to expedite their transactions. During the transaction, bidders spent over $180 million worth of ETH only on fees. It made Ethereum prohibitively expensive for anyone to use at the time, resulting in a lot of social media arguing and griping among NFT owners. Many famous Bored Ape Yacht Club collectors are dissatisfied with Yuga Labs’ handling of the Otherside mint, as well as the company’s response to the backlash. Bored Ape NFT holder ap3father reflected on his loyalty to the community and personal gains from the project in a lengthy thread posted on Sunday, but also expressed unhappiness with the structure of the auction and contact from Yuga Labs. I brought many friends into the space for...