Otherside NFT sales set multiple historical records. What details are worth noting?

Author: Nianqing, Chain Catcher

The Otherdeed for Otherside NFT went on public sale today at 9 AM Beijing time. A prolonged Gas fee war has also begun.

In a short period, ETH Gas fees surged rapidly, peaking at over 8000 Gwei, with many buyers completing transactions with gas fees exceeding 2 ETH. They excitedly boasted on social media: "See you on the otherside!" Meanwhile, another group of people remained in the congested world of "this side," anxiously watching their ETH balance in their wallets, as the average gas fee continued to stay above 5000 Gwei. It is well known that this figure is usually only in the low double digits.

Some buyers failed to complete transactions in this gas war, and Yuga Labs stated after this round of sales that they would refund gas fees to users whose transactions failed, and they intend to migrate ApeCoin to their own chain.

This crazy gas fee war will undoubtedly create another chapter in Ethereum's transaction history, reminiscent of the last similar scene with CryptoKitties.

This madness was expected.

On April 29, Otherside announced that to avoid excessive ETH being burned due to the gas war during the public sale, they canceled the Dutch auction (which sells at full price initially, and if no one buys, the auction price decreases over time), and the Otherdeed NFT will be sold at a fixed price of 305 ApeCoin.

Why 305? "305" is the city code for Miami. Observant friends may notice that the number "305" has been written on the blue neon sign outside the "bar" in the image on Yuga Labs' official BAYC page. Miami is the starting point of all Bored Ape stories, with a narrative tone that embodies the laziness, leisure, and freedom of Miami's "dirty bars." Otherside extends from the Miami coast, imagining a "world on the other side" rising from the Miami swamps and the Atlantic, thus carrying special significance.

Moreover, 305 ApeCoin is a relatively reasonable price. Previously, when Otherside indicated it would sell via Dutch auction, insiders revealed that the pricing was approximately 600 ApeCoin. Yuga Labs also stated over a month ago that they hoped to raise $178 million from each sale (excluding secondary sale profits), with Ape prices at that time being around a dozen dollars.

In addition to switching to a fixed price sale, to help users save on gas fees and reduce the likelihood of a large-scale Gas War, Otherside NFT also allows sellers to pre-approve 12 hours in advance. At the start of the sale, each wallet will be limited to minting a maximum of 2 NFTs, and as minting continues, the number of NFTs each wallet can mint will increase.

However, these measures cannot fundamentally change network congestion and the gas fee war. With the launch of the Otherside project, 100,000 NFTs are available for listing, of which 55,000 NFTs are for public sale, 30,000 are distributed for free to BAYC and MAYC holders, and 15,000 are allocated to contributors. Of course, this is not the only public sale in the primary market; Otherside includes 200,000 plots of land, with 100,000 remaining for later sales (Yuga Labs previously revealed that the second sales plan is set for this August).

From 9:00 AM Beijing time until around 11:40 AM, all 55,000 publicly sold Otherdeed NFTs were minted, consuming approximately 62,423 ETH (ETH is currently priced at $2,771, totaling about $170 million), accounting for nearly 79% of the total Ethereum gas fee consumption in the last three hours. This also directly led to a historic high in ETH burn over the past 24 hours. Each Otherside sold for 305 APE, and based on the current unit price of $19, the total sales amount reached $318 million (the ApeCoin earned from this sale will be locked for one year).

As of the time of publication, the floor price for Otherdeed NFT on Opensea is 5 ETH, with a total supply of about 68,500. Meanwhile, the floor price for Bored Ape BAYC has risen to 158.88 ETH, setting a new historical high.

Why is Otherside worth looking forward to?

In 2022, Yuga Labs started strong and has continued to maintain that momentum.

Starting in January, Yuga Labs began frequent marketing, with OpenSea CFO Brian Roberts, football star Neymar, Justin Bieber, Elon Musk, Jay Chou, and executives from Goldman Sachs announcing their ownership of BAYC or changing their avatars to BAYC. Following a series of operations, the BAYC floor price first broke 100 ETH.

In early March, Yuga Labs successfully acquired the CryptoPunks and Meebits IP series.

On March 16, the BAYC development team Yuga Labs announced the launch of the metaverse game project MetaRPG and initiated virtual land sales.

On March 19, Yuga Labs released the Otherside teaser trailer on their official Twitter. Subsequently, the value of BAYC and MAYC NFTs skyrocketed, and even NFTs like CryptoPunks, Meebits, Cool Cats, and World of Women that appeared in the promotional video were pulled up.

On March 23, Yuga Labs secured $450 million in funding led by a16z. This is the largest financing in the NFT industry to date. The funding will be used for the development of the new project Otherside.

It’s hard to know what the next expectation and surprise will be.

Last September, Yuga Labs announced Roadmap 2.0 on Twitter, which only mentioned plans for an NFT store. The series of actions mentioned above, such as token issuance and metaverse development, were not part of our understanding of the plan. However, we can trace a clear thread from its development path; the team revealed in interviews that Otherside had already entered the development stage since last August, but at that time it was referred to as a "mysterious project."

Screenshot from the Otherside teaser trailer

Yuga Labs is best at teasing expectations; its CEO Nicole Muniz previously founded a brand marketing company, so she is well-versed in marketing strategies. In all interviews, when asked "what's next," she only mentions the vision without detailing specific plans. Even the CryptoPunks developer Larva Labs mentioned in their acquisition statement that the reason they were willing to sell was that Yuga Labs is better at operating and developing PFP (Profile Pics) projects and their community ecosystem.

Otherside only updated its website and project introduction on the eve of the Otherdeed NFT public sale. Prior to that, people could only speculate about what this project would do from the Otherside teaser trailer.

Otherside is positioned as a MetaRPG (RPG = Role-playing Game), and the team hopes to build a gamified, fully decentralized interoperable world. Otherside is not only open to Bored Ape holders; NFTs from other projects can also be integrated into Otherside.

Currently, compatible NFT IPs in Otherside include Yuga Labs' own copyright series BAYC, MAYC, CryptoPunks, Meebits, and other blue-chip NFTs like Cool Cats, World of Women, Nouns, and Toadz. The team previously publicly criticized Decentraland and Sandbox, believing that both are "boring" and cannot accept a metaverse that is not interesting and lacks usability. Yuga Labs aims to break down the "walls of the usability garden," expand boundaries, and allow all NFTs to participate. Yuga Labs also hopes that NFT holders can use their digital avatars in the virtual world to experience Miami's clubs.

Otherside continues the clever narrative of BAYC. Each Otherdeed NFT plot in this auction will have its unique attributes, including certain galaxies and islands, with the islands extending from the central biosphere and swamps to the infinite expanse. The land is built on five types of sediments: biological swamp, chemical slime, rainbow atmosphere, cosmic dreams, and infinite expanse. Players' actions are key to changing these environments, sediments, and digging for treasures. Landowners are creators who can participate in demonstrations, prototypes, testing builds, live events, and competitions.

In addition, another exciting surprise is Yuga Labs' new series of 3D NFTs called Koda. This time, 10,000 Kodas will be randomly placed in the Otherside plots. In the previous promotional video, Koda brought the Bored Ape into Otherside and encountered characters like CryptoPunks and Meebits.

In the official introduction, Koda is described as a primitive creature that leads players into the Otherside world. "We don't know why they brought us here, nor do we know their relationship with this land. If you are lucky enough to encounter Koda, please proceed with caution." See, another cliffhanger. Some speculate that Koda NFTs might even surpass Moonbirds and become this year's biggest dark horse.

Yuga Labs connects elements such as NFTs not limited to BAYC, Land NFTs, and APE tokens through Otherside. For example, MetaRPG will allow players to exchange earned tokens for ApeCoin, which is the system currency of this game; the game is not limited to BAYC members, as it will allow users to connect with other NFT avatars or create in-game assets. This game will also provide developers with an SDK, enabling them to create based on the platform, and the land in the game will be integrated with real-world land. Additionally, Yuga's Roadmap 2.0 reveals "there will also be a trading platform."

This represents a new creative approach to the metaverse, following the land project-based models of The Sandbox and Decentraland. Undeniably, Otherside is changing the NFT market and the entire metaverse landscape.

Can Otherside truly become the Marvel Universe of Web 3?

Yuga Labs CEO Nicole Muniz mentioned in an interview that BAYC always revolves around three narratives: identity, ownership, and usability.

Initially, BAYC members spent 0.08 ETH to purchase a membership, and everyone in the community was equal. At ApeFest, ordinary teachers and small employees could meet face-to-face with NBA stars and famous singers. This was once the ideal community culture in Yuga Labs' vision for development.

However, the entry ticket now costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Moreover, the world of BAYC continues to tell the story of "the rich getting richer": owning BAYC---receiving Ape airdrops---receiving Otherside airdrops---receiving Koda, and so on.

Yuga Labs positions the world of BAYC as the Marvel Universe of the Web3 generation. They indeed have more valuable IPs like Marvel, but becoming an entertainment giant with a market value exceeding $250 billion like Disney is no easy feat.

"Besides beloved IPs, consumer products are what can reach mainstream audiences," commented Amy Wu from FTX Ventures on Yuga Labs' Marvel Universe ambitions.

After all, the threshold for Yuga Labs is becoming increasingly high, and the success of BAYC will inevitably lead blue-chip projects to attract more funds, resulting in a certain degree of monopoly, making it increasingly difficult for new entrants in the NFT market.

Nicole Muniz has also mentioned that they will strive to expand the community to more groups, but how exactly will depend on what surprises Yuga Labs will bring to the industry in the future.