Yuga Labs’ first-ever Bitcoin Ordinal NFT sale has netted the organization $16.5million within 24 hours. 228 bidders won one of the Bitcoin Ordinal NFTs from Yuga’s “TwelveFold” collection.
The firm said winners will receive their NFT within one week – while unsuccessful bidders will receive a refund on their bid and transaction fee within 24 hours.
The TwelveFold auction has ended. Congratulations to the top 288 bidders – you will receive your inscription within one week. Valid bids that did not rank in the top 288 will have their bid amount returned to their receiving address within 24 hours.
— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) March 6, 2023
Yuga announced the collection towards the end of February, and described it as a “visual allegory for the cartography of data on the Bitcoin blockchain” in the form of a “base 12 art system localized around a 12×12 grid”
Related: Billionaire buys Yuga Lab’s “Dookey Dash’ NFT for $1.63 million in Ethereum
Yuga’s Bitcoin Ordinal NFTs are a 300 piece limited edition generative art collection inscribed on the Bitcoin Network. The NFTs look something like this:
I was lucky enough to place a winning bid for a @yugalabs #Twelvefold #BTC ordinal. Can’t wait to see how this ages in the decades to come. Won’t ever catch me fading #yuga. Also… Massive props to @nftsupply for the help setting up a wallet etc. He’s a huge resource for us all. pic.twitter.com/g8fSDIfhzX
— Carsonturner.eth📍 ATL (@carsonturner) March 6, 2023
Bitcoin Ordinal NFTs Top Bids
As mentioned, the auction earned 735 Bitcoin (BTC) worth around $16.5 million. The highest bid amongst the 228 topped at 7 BTC or $161,000 for one Bitcoin Ordinal NFT. The Top 10 Bids are shown below:
the TwelveFold auction just concluded, earning a total of 735 BTC / $16,500,000 in 24 hours, with the highest bidder paying $161k. biggest bear market drop by a mile, and it wasn't even on Ethereum 😂
I'd say the Yuga ordinals experiment was a massive financial success. pic.twitter.com/DUC2cKrZxo
— tropoFarmer 🍌 (@tropoFarmer) March 6, 2023
Yuga Faces Backlash
However, Yuga Labs’ “refund policy” is facing major backlash from the NFT community who say that it “sets a bad precedent” since Yuga keeps user’s Bitcoin in custody until the coins are sent back. Community leaders are also concerned that Yuga’s auction model will be copied by scammers who’ll never refund bids on their collections.
Yuga is establishing REALLY bad precedence running an auction like this. They are taking custody of bidders’ bitcoin with a promise to send back unsuccessful bids. Not doubting they’ll do that, but this model is a scammer’s dream, and credible players need to set better example.
— ordinally (@veryordinally) March 6, 2023