Cryptocurrencies

ApeCoin Drops After Ethereum-Crashing Record Virtual Land Sale

Investors paid fees on Ethereum to mint and trade virtual land
Record sale clogged network, sent fees to prohibitive level

An Apecoin-based vending machine
Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg

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By Olga Kharif and David Pan

May 2, 2022 at 11:16 AM UTC

Updated on

May 2, 2022 at 5:48 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Yuga Labs, the creator of the popular Bored Apes Yacht Club collection of NFTs, is seeking to refund transaction fees incurred by bidders who were unsuccessful at its weekend auction of virtual land related to its metaverse project.

The record sale raised around $320 million but also resulted in about $180 million transaction fees in Ether. The frenzy caused the congestion on the Ethereum blockchain with the so-called gas fees so high that not only the minters but other Ethereum-based apps users were unable to perform many activities such as trading or minting. In order to complete a transaction on the network, extra fees are needed to prioritized the transaction given limited capacity of Ethereum blockchain.