Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club, has recently concluded the auction for its new Bitcoin NFT collection called TwelveFold. During the 24-hour auction, 288 successful bidders purchased 288 pieces of the limited series, spending a total of $16.49 million worth of BTC. The collection generated 3,246 total bids, with the highest bid at 7.1159 BTC or roughly $159,500 and the lowest successful bid at 2.2501 BTC or just over $50,000. The top 288 bidders will receive their inscriptions within the week, while the last 12 pieces of the 300-count limited series will be distributed as part of Yuga’s philanthropic programs.
TwelveFold NFTs are generative art pieces inscribed to the Bitcoin blockchain via Ordinals, which is a recently launched method of committing art to Bitcoin by permanently inscribing media on individual Satoshis, each of which represents 1/100,000,000 of a full Bitcoin (BTC). The pieces are all 12×12 grids, an homage to how data is stored on the Bitcoin blockchain, and combine 3D graphics and hand-drawn features. Each of the 288 pieces won at auction will be generated by the same code, and pieces won at a higher bidding price will not appear qualitatively different from pieces won at lower bidding prices, according to Yuga. However, pieces from the collection will be numbered and generated according to their rank in the bidding process.
TwelveFold is a departure from Yuga’s past offerings in a few key ways. Unlike Yuga’s previous collections, which were on the Ethereum blockchain and consisted of at least 10,000 NFTs, TwelveFold NFTs are inscribed to the Bitcoin blockchain via Ordinals and consist of only 300 pieces. The TwelveFold bidding process required bidders to deposit the full amount of their bids directly with Yuga, which caused controversy as it legitimized a process that could easily be manipulated by nefarious project creators to steal funds from bidders.
The TwelveFold collection marks the first-ever Bitcoin-based NFT project by Yuga Labs. The company’s previous NFT projects, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Otherside virtual land plots, CryptoPunks, and Meebits, were all on the Ethereum blockchain. TwelveFold is also one of the highest-profile launches to date via Ordinals.
This project is an important milestone for Yuga Labs as it marks the company’s first foray into the Bitcoin NFT market. With the success of its previous projects on the Ethereum blockchain, TwelveFold’s limited edition of 300 generative art pieces is a notable departure. The project’s innovative use of the Bitcoin blockchain for NFTs is significant as it showcases the potential for the growth of the Bitcoin NFT market, which is predicted to reach $4.5 billion by 2025. Additionally, the controversy surrounding the bidding process highlights the need for digital infrastructure that caters to the nascent medium of Bitcoin Ordinal NFTs. Overall, TwelveFold represents an exciting new chapter for Yuga Labs and the broader NFT industry.
