KEY POINTS

  • YugaLabs sold Otherdeeds NFTs in April 30 sale
  • Otherdeeds can only be bought using Apecoin
  • The sale indicates high demand of virtual assets

Yuga Labs, the company behind the"Bored Ape" series of NFTs, has raised around $285 million worth of cryptocurrency in a virtual land sale, Reuters reported.

The company, which raised $450 million in March in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, is all set to enter the metaverse.

In an online sale on April 30, Yuga Labs sold NFTs called "Otherdeeds," which could be exchanged as plots of virtual land in a future Bored Ape-themed online metaverse called "Otherside," the company said.

The "Otherdeeds" NFTs could only be bought using the project's own cryptocurrency ApeCoin, which launched in March.

There were 55,000 Otherdeeds for sale, priced at 305 ApeCoin each, which according to the company's Twitter handle, had sold out.

According to Reuters calculations, the sale raked in 16,775,000 ApeCoin, worth around $285 million as of Sunday, based on the price of ApeCoin on cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase at 8.10 a.m. ET.

The sale indicates the continued high demand for high-risk crypto assets related to online virtual worlds. It is known that NFTs are largely unregulated, and reports of scams, fakes and market manipulation are common.

Yuga Labs' Otherdeeds sale came shortly after the Bored Ape Yacht Club official Instagram account was hacked and a phishing link posted, allowing scammers to steal victims' NFTs.

Critics say NFTs are essentially worthless
Critics say NFTs are essentially worthless AFP / Justin TALLIS
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