Virtual Land Grab Raises $320M in Crypto for Developers of Bored Ape Metaverse

Yuga Labs, which makes the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of the popular Bored Apes Yacht Club collection, is selling virtual land for its metaverse project Otherside, Bloomberg wrote Sunday (May 1).

The company has raised around $320 million in crypto — the biggest offering of its kind. The demand was strong enough that activity for the event was all around the Ethereum blockchain, to the extent that it disrupted activity and sent transaction fees soaring, the report said.

Those who held the ApeCoin token who verified their identity were fighting for deeds of 55,000 parcels of virtual land in Otherside.

In addition, there were 45,000 other parcels allocated for holders of Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape NFTs, along with Yuga Labs and other project developers. Another 100,000 tokens will be awarded later to certain Otherdeed NFT holders.

The report noted that the process was initially delayed to avoid sending gas fees even higher. The plots cost buyers around $5,800 each, or 305 ApeCoin, based on the coin prices along with transaction costs.

“Yuga Labs’ virtual land sale has triggered one of the highest spikes in transaction fees on Ethereum,” said Jason Wu, founder of decentralized lending protocol DeFiner. “I have seen other NFT launches causing high gas fees, but this is definitely one of the highest.”

The report mentioned that the ApeCoins raised in the sale will be locked up for one year, or unable to be sold, which will reduce the coins in circulation.

PYMNTS wrote that Bored Ape Yacht Club recently ran afoul of hackers, with the Instagram and Discord accounts being taken over, sending an unofficial link to followers to “mint” NFTs.

Read more: Hackers Swipe Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs After Crashing Discord and Instagram Accounts

Project leaders acted quickly, informing users of the hack and telling them not to mint anything or link their accounts to anything.

The fake social media link purported that users could mint virtual land in the Otherside. Those who clinked the link ended up having their wallets compromised and their things transferred to hackers’ wallets.