Yuga Labs' Otherside scraps Dutch-style auction for NFT sale

Yuga Labs' impending sale of NFTs for its Otherside metaverse will no longer use a Dutch-style auction this weekend, according to a blog post.

"Dutch auctions are actually bullsh*t, so Otherdeeds will be sold for a flat price of 305 apecoin," said the metaverse project's official Twitter account.

The project originally intended to use such an auction, which typically involves a bidding war in which the asking price starts high and then keeps falling until all units are sold. But in the latest post, it said that Dutch auctions do not solve the problems that they are designed to fix. "They do not successfully mediate demand, nor do they really negate gas wars in highly-anticipated mints," it said.

The auction for the sale of its NFTs called Otherdeed will take place at 9 pm ET this Saturday. It has also allocated more time for pre-approval of the apecoin tokens that have to be used to buy the NFTs.

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Even though the team still did not offer clarity on what the Otherdeed NFTs are, they are are said to be individual land plots in the Otherside metaverse. The Otherside metaverse is a virtual land being launched by Yuga Labs, the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club and and Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT collections.

Rather than an auction, the project said that it will put up Otherdeed NFTs at a fixed price of 305 apecoin (APE). This is worth about $6,900 at the time of writing.

The blog post detailed that 55,000 Otherdeeds will be available for mint. If sold out, the NFT mint would bring in $379.5 million for the team. 

Only those who have passed Know Your Customer (KYC) verification, and hold apecoin in their pre-approved wallet will be allowed to take part in the sale. Each wallet can buy up to 2 Otherdeed NFTs, the post stated.

About Author

Vishal Chawla is The Block’s crypto ecosystems editor and has spent over six years covering tech protocols, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Vishal likes to delve deep into blockchain intricacies to ensure readers are well-informed about the continuously evolving crypto landscape. He is also a staunch advocate for rigorous security practices in the space. Before joining The Block, Vishal held positions at IDG ComputerWorld, CIO, and Crypto Briefing. He can be reached on Twitter at @vishal4c and via email at [email protected]