The auction of Bitcoin Ordinal NFTs, held by Yuga Labs, has come to an end and has generated $16M in merely 24 hours. Approximately 288 bidders won one of the many Bitcoin NFTs from the TwelveFold collection. Yuga Labs stated that the winners will receive their inscriptions within a week. However, as long as the losing bidders are concerned, their amount would be reimbursed 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
The TwelveFold collection generated around 3,246 bids. These bids were seen to be growing considerably during the 24-hour auction that started on Sunday. Furthermore, the highest bid was approximately 7.1159 BTC, with the lowest bid being 2.2501 BTC. Yuga Labs stated that the remaining 12 pieces would be reserved for contributors and distributed as a part of its philanthropic programs.
The Chief Content Officer at Yuga Labs, Schmigge Figge stated,
Like crypto, the collection isn't so much linear but cyclical, with four different color palettes progressing throughout: winter, spring, summer, autumn. It's a nod to being optimistic whether we're in a Crypto Winter or a Defi Summer. pic.twitter.com/ZbTRdwX69E
— schmigge figge (@mfigge) March 5, 2023
“Like crypto, the collection isn’t so much linear but cyclical, with four different color palettes progressing throughout: winter, spring, summer, autumn. It’s a nod to being optimistic whether we’re in a Crypto Winter or a Defi Summer.”
Yuga Labs has only released NFTs that have been a part of the Ethereum blockchain. Similarly, all other NFTs owned and distributed by the firm have at least 10,000 NFTs featured. As for TwelveFold, it signifies a departure from that line of work. The generative art pieces are injected in the Bitcoin blockchain through the use of Ordinals.
Moreover, they are all on 12×12 grids and combine both 3D graphics and hand drawn features. Each of the 288 pieces won at auction would be generated by using the same code. Similarly, pieces won at higher prices would not be qualitatively different from the ones won at lower prices. The firm mentioned that the pieces from the collection would be numbered and generated based on rank.
Yuga Labs Becomes the Centre of Controversy Following its Auction
Yuga Labs stirred up controversy regarding the way in which the TwelveFold bidding process was designed. The TwelveFold bidders had to deposit the entire bids to be even considered for the auction. The creator of Bitcoin Ordinals bombarded Yuga Labs for creating such a controversial bidding process. It was argued that the process could be easily manipulated by exploiters which would lead the way to the theft of bidders’ funds. Users also argued that the bidding process was against the spirit of blockchain’s decentralization.
The structure of TwelveFold’s bidding process highlights the disconnect between the popularity of Bitcoin Ordinals NFTs and the lack of digital infrastructure perfectly. As of now, analysts believe that the Bitcoin NFT market would hit the $4.5M mark by 2025. Similarly, it is also believed that an entire ecosystem, consisting of products and services to support Bitcoin NFTs, would also emerge this year.
