Yuga's $16.5M Pay Day
Yuga Labs smashed the previous Bitcoin Ordinals record with their $16.5M TwelveFold sale. But was it the right move?
TylerD's Market Summary
GM!
Today's major headlines include:
Yuga raises $16.5M with TwelveFold
Punks heat up on Blur
Claire Silver is going to The Louvre
Mocaverse debuts with issues
More SEC crypto actions
💰 Yuga Bets Big on Bitcoin
The auction was heated.
Prices soared in the final hours of the Yuga TwelveFold 24-hour auction, marking the early bids as irrelevant.
When the dust settled, they had raised over 735 Bitcoin totaling $16.5M for a 288-piece generative art collection.
Yuga has proved once again that they are the undisputed champ, and when they decide to mint and sell NFTs, there will be incredible demand.
But the question on TwelveFold is - was it the right move? And is their brand impacted?
By The Numbers
First let's look at some quick figures.
Highest sale: 7.11 BTC (101 ETH or ~ $159,500)
Avg sale: 2.55 BTC (36.5 ETH or $57,200)
Lowest sale: 2.25 BTC (32 ETH or ~$50,500)
The "floor" on TwelveFold was effectively 32 ETH at the conclusion of the auction.
For some perspective, that would make TwelveFold the 7th highest Art Blocks project by floor price.
And there are only ~14 notable art or PFP projects with a higher floor currently.
Yuga has released an art project that likely has not been in planning for more than a few months (Ordinals have just come to fruition in 2023) and it's already a top-15 NFT.
Enter The FUD Machine
There are 3 issues that seem to have surfaced the most frequently in how Yuga went about the drop:
They did not highlight the artist or explain the art at all
The rollout felt rushed
They did not work with the Ordinals group or try to build infrastructure to support the launch
Bullets 1 and 2 above are what made it feel "cash grabby" to me. To even find who the artist was behind TwelveFold one had to scroll through dozens of FAQs buried on the project site.
And the timing was suspect, feeling like Yuga was trying to capitalize on this Ordinals craze perhaps not knowing how long it will last.
But the most disappointing aspect was bullet 3. The TwelveFold auction was done in a trusted manner, where bidders effectively sent their BTC to Yuga, hoping Yuga would send it back (or send the NFT if they won).
This is in-line with the current infant state of NFT infrastructure on Bitcoin, but that's where the opportunity was.
Yuga could have taken a longer approach, helped build some infrastructure (or work with the Ordinal team in some capacity), and launched this project with some more positive outcomes for everyone participating in the BTC NFT ecosystem.
But alas, they did not.
And now they have their money.
We will see how the market looks on this project over time, and if it was a major win or a missed opportunity (I am leaning the latter).
🤯 Punks Trade on Blur
One of the biggest surprises from this past weekend was the realization that CryptoPunks started actively trading on Blur.
Not the full set, and not normal CryptoPunks - the wrapped Punks.
But still, it was a pretty major deal to see Punks trading on a marketplace other than the Larva Labs primary site.
Why are they trading there?
Enter PunksOTC, the primary market maker for Punks who was accountable for a whopping 41.6% of trades over the last 7 months according to NFT Statistics' latest video.
He has voiced the issues with the Larva Labs marketplace in the past and is seemingly championing this move to Blur.
What problem is Blur fixing?
Blur is also solving some issues with the legacy Larva Labs marketplace such as ETH lock-up on bids and gas fees on every transaction.
So the trading experience is better, and there's more liquidity - got it.
How has the market responded?
By The Numbers:
Some notable figures since Punks started trading on Blur this past Saturday:
Floor is up 4.6 ETH (from 62 to 66.65 on Blur)
Trading volume up 117% week-over-week (3,318 ETH on the week)
Wrapped Punks see 2,300+ ETH volume in 2.5 days
There is over 11k ETH of bid support, with 2k ETH at 64.7 ETH
That is a pretty noticeable impact on what has been a very stable market.
Whether the Blur volume is the driver, just the "narrative" of Punks trading on Blur, or a coincidence entirely still remains to be seen.
But this is going to be a fun one to watch.
And oh yeah, Franklin is already up to 10 Punks.
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of the other major headlines from a busy Monday in NFTs:
Trading volume came in just over 30k ETH, the lowest level since Blur SZN2 began
MocaVerse debuted its highly anticipated mint with severe minting challenges, leading to the team delaying its "wormhole"; floor now at 1.7 ETH
AI artist Claire Silver will see her 1/1 "Love in the 4th Turning" exhibit in the Louvre, while also announcing she was signed with WME
PROOF shared a new open-sourced design system called "Moonlight," including Figma files giving access to a massive inventory of resources for teams to use in their design process
Memeland debuted new prizes for staked Captainz holders, including $APE
A Trippy BAYC King sold for 440 ETH yesterday evening
Momoguro revealed their NFTs along with a new a teaser of its upcoming game, though the floor fell to 0.28 ETH in a post-reveal dump (-43%)
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
The crypto market was even on the day; BTC -0.1% at $22,400, ETH even at $1,560
The SEC filed an emergency action against Miami investment adviser BKCoin for an alleged $100 million crypto fraud scheme
Crypto exchange Bybit is partnering with Mastercard to launch a debit card
🚀 NFT Total Volume
BAYC (3,242 ETH, 71.8 ETH Floor)
Otherdeed (3,137 ETH, 1.8 ETH)
Moonbirds (2,059 ETH, 6.04 ETH)
MAYC (1,954 ETH, 15.3 ETH)
Owls (3,481 ETH, 0.21 ETH)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase
SchizoPosters (81%, 0.23 ETH Floor)
Utopia (55%, 0.7 ETH)
RSTLSS x Cryptoadz (53%, 0.26 ETH)
Weirdo Ghost Gang (17%, 0.52 ETH)
Milady (17%, 1.33 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
Today is another stacked day of new mints, mostly at low and reasonable entry prices.
Both Eden Genesis and Illuvitars are minting at 0.01 ETH or below, and the Escher team is launching a free open edition.
The Escher OE seems like a no-brainer at the free entry price.
Along with these new mints, expect more volume on Mocaverse as its full supply should hit the market today.
Eden Genesis: Rise of the Contender (11:00 a.m. ET); 0.01 ETH mint
SEIZON (12:00 p.m. ET); 0.057 ETH mint
The Escher Edition (12:00 p.m. ET); free
Mayfair Witches Pass (2:00 p.m. ET)
Illuvitars (5:00 p.m. ET); 0.005 ETH mint
Enjoy this write-up? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.
For all volume and floor price data, see Lucky Trader's Project Rankings page.
For all upcoming mints, see Lucky Trader's Project Schedule page.