Yuga Labs’ Bitcoin NFTs top bid is 2 BTC; draws criticism for auction model

Yuga Labs’ TwelveFold Bitcoin (BTC) NFT top 288 bids are led by a 2 BTC bid (around $50,000), with the lowest being 0.111222 BTC ($250) as of press time.

However, the collection has drawn heavy criticism from some crypto community members over its “stone age” auction model.

TwelveFold is a 300 generative art piece inscribed onto satoshis on the Bitcoin blockchain created by Yuga Labs.

Yuga Labs’ auction model

Yuga Labs’ auction process requires participants to deposit their BTC into an address provided by the company.

The NFT company asked participants to provide a separate BTC address to receive their NFTs if they win the auction, adding that it would refund those with unsuccessful bids.

The exchange advised participants only to make bids with a self-custodied wallet as those made with third parties like Coinbase, and other exchanges would be unable to receive refunds.

Bitcoin Ordinals creator issues warning

Bitcoin Ordinals NFT, creator Casey Rodarmor, said Yuga Labs’ method was a “degenerate bullshit.” Rodarmor threatened to wash his hands off the entity if it repeated the same thing.

Rodarmor added:

“Actions like this prove that for some entities and people: ‘Once a shitcoiner always a shitcoiner.’”

A community member Ordinally pointed out that the model was “establishing REALLY bad precedence” because malicious players could copy the same method. According to Ordinally, while Yuga Labs would return the unsuccessful bids, scammers who adopt this method wouldn’t.

Meanwhile, several other crypto community members said the NFT company could have found a better way to make its auctions work. According to them, there are more efficient and trustless ways to conduct NFT auctions on the Bitcoin network.