‘Swindler’s Dream’ — Yuga’s Bitcoin NFTs Auction Model Draws Criticism
Nonfungible token (NFT) conglomerate Yuga Labs is facing some criticism from the cryptocurrency community, including the creator of Bitcoin Ordinals, over how it plans to auction its new Bitcoin NFT collection.
On March 5, Yuga opened bidding for its “TwelveFold” collection, which will see 300 NFT-like images inscribed on Satoshis using the Bitcoin-native Ordinals protocol, with 288 from the collection sent to the 288 highest bidders.
The auction for TwelveFold has started and ends on the block just before 15:00 PT tomorrow, March 6, 2023. Good luck. pic.twitter.com/xGWU9jdCoO
— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) March 5, 2023
According to a March 5 press release, those participating in the bidding process will be required to send their entire bid amount in BTC to a unique BTC address controlled by Yuga. Winners would simply pay up the BTC they bid, while Yuga said it would return the BTC to unsuccessful top bidders.
However, such a plan has served some in the crypto community, and some have pointed out that having to manually issue refunds for failed bids is like the “Stone Age”.
so the way the yugas auction will work tomorrow is everyone sends Bitcoin to one wallet and if you lose the bid they promise to send it back manually
probably tens of millions of dollars
we are still in the stone age
— Giancarlo (@GiancarloChaux) March 5, 2023
The user behind an Ordinals-focused Twitter account “typically” called the auction model a “con’s dream” and added that while they doubt Yuga would keep BTC from unsuccessful bids, the way it conducted the auction sets a “REALLY bad precedent.”
Yuga is establishing REALLY bad priority by running an auction like this. They take care of the bidders’ bitcoin with a promise to return failed bids. No doubt they will, but this model is a cheater’s dream and credible players need to set a better example.
— ordinarily (@veryordinally) March 6, 2023
The post even saw a response from Bitcoin Ordinals creator himself, Casey Rodarmor, who heavily weighed in on the discussion telling Yuga to “get fucked” and calling the execution of the auction “degenerate nonsense”.
He added that if Yuga were to conduct a similar auction, he would encourage others to boycott the project.
Dear @yugalabs,@ordinary is correct. Actions like this prove that for some entities and people: “Once a shitcoiner always a shitcoiner.”
If I personally, Casey Rodarmor, ever see you, Yuga labs, the entity, screwing with degenerate nonsense like this again, I will wash… https://t.co/COARsn4X0o
— Casey Rodarmor (@rodarmor) March 6, 2023
Other users pointed out the shortcomings of the auction system, saying that it is possible that someone may pay too much for a twelvefold due to a possible significant price discrepancy between the highest and lowest bids in the top 288.
yuga is going to make a lot of money by twelvefold haha pic.twitter.com/UF7efYmN0k
— frankdegods.eth (@frankdegods) March 5, 2023
Despite the criticism from some, many were happy to see a major project like Yuga – which rose to prominence due to several Ethereum-based NFT collections – moving to Bitcoin.
Related: Luxor Mining acquires OrdinalHub amid Bitcoin-based NFT hype
Ordinally, who previously criticized the compilation, later tweeted appreciation for “the fact that Yuga took it upon himself to attempt [to] go a Bitcoin route when setting up this auction.”
To give credit where credit is due – I really appreciate the fact that Yuga took it upon himself to try to go a Bitcoin route when setting up this auction. Somewhat irrationally, it pains me even more to see a bitcoin approach setting a bad precedent, than an ETH based approach…
— ordinarily (@veryordinally) March 6, 2023
An Ordinals based collection, Ordinal Pizza AND, expressed excitement over Yuga’s BTC collection, calling it a “massive net positive for Ordinals.”
The criticism wasn’t enough to stop paid-in bidders from trying to cement a top spot to get their hands on Yuga’s first BTC collection.
At the time of writing, the top bid was 1.11 BTC (around $25,000) according to the TwelveFold website with the lowest bid recorded as 0.011 BTC, or around $250.
