I’m a multichain girl, in a multichain world. I own digital assets (read: jpegs) across multiple blockchains.
DeLabs’ NFT projects DeGods and y00ts both made massive bets last week by moving their entire communities to new chains— and not looking back.
Many holders were excited about the move, while others voiced concerns about the strategy. The bold decision also caught the attention of other prominent web3 projects.
Here’s how and why it went down— plus, the results so far.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT
DeGods and y00ts are popular NFT PFP collections that started on the Solana blockchain. Each have gone through quite a rollercoaster since their inception, but the tenacious team at DeLabs has kept moving forward. Each collection has cultivated strong communities who identify with the traits and the vision of the founders.
On Christmas 2022, both collections announced they would be leaving Solana, a move that had been rumored for a while. DeGods announced they were moving to Ethereum and y00ts to Polygon (an Ethereum L2 sidechain) in Q1 2023.
Why the move? NFTgo reported that in a Twitter Space, Frank (DeGods Founder) said the migration "would provide the best way for the collections to reach a broader audience of NFT users."
Polygon gave a $3 million grant to y00ts to move to their blockchain, something which many criticized and labeled a “bribe.” Some were confused why they wouldn’t just move both collections to Ethereum mainnet instead. In a Discord announcement, Frank said the grant funds would be used for the expansion of the DeLabs team.
INCENTIVES & STRATEGY
When the migrations went live, it was made clear that holders who didn’t bridge would lose all utility to their NFT on the Solana network. Holders were strongly incentivized to bridge within the first 24 hours, a strategy that definitely paid off. These incentives included:
Low/no gas fees
Low/no staking fees (more on that below)
Lower royalty fees on ETH
Chance to win a BTC DeGod
They also announced preferred marketplaces with low fees: Magic Eden for y00ts and (villain of the moment) Blur for DeGods. I’d argue that these are two of the most innovative NFT marketplaces out there, so partnering with them seems on-brand for DeLabs.
Staking earns points to be used on future launchpad mints.
Staking isn’t new to the ecosystem, but it has also moved over to the new chains. By locking up your DeGods or y00ts (can unstake anytime), they accumulate points that allow holders to mint new NFTs through the upcoming DeLabs accelerator launchpad program.
$DUST is the token that powers the DeLabs ecosystem. On a Twitter space, it was announced that the team is working on a $DUST marketplace powered by $DUST Pay. Still awaiting more info. The mysterious $DUST protocol website says: “the experiment has officially begun. Nominations begin in Q2 2023.”
SPONSORED POST: CRYPTOYS
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Collecting Cryptoys is more like collecting physical toys than typical NFT offerings. The Genesis drop contains 10,000 toys each for Corgi, Kitty, and Panda with unique skins for seven rarity levels. The more scarce the rarity skin is, the more powerful it will become.
With 21 possibilities, you’ll want to collect them all!
THE NUMBERS (as of April 4)
Here’s how things have played out so far.
y00ts
Floor price just before the Polygon migration (March 27): ~$2,900 USD to now ~$3,800 USD ⬆️
% Migrated: 95% (~85% in the first 24 hours)
High sale: a 1-of-1 Zombie y00t sold for 75 WETH ($133K). This is also an all-time high for the collection (and probably an all-time high for Polygon PFPs, period)
DeGods
Floor price just before the ETH migration (March 31): ~$19,950 USD to now ~$16,000 USD ⬇️
% Migrated: 81% (~70% in the first 24 hours)
High sale: Ice Skin sold for 15 ETH ($28K).
Why did y00ts go higher and DeGods get lower post-migration?
Some are blaming Blur, which y00ts cannot be traded on. DeGods are being churned by airdrop farmers to earn $BLUR, which can drive lower floor prices.
Others note that there was a much bigger price run-up leading to the DeGods migration, and what goes up must come back to earth.
Regardless, the volume of both collections post-migration has been impressive. I personally think of most Polygon NFTs as “hidden folder NFTs” and I still don’t know why PFPs need to be on it. 🤷♀️
Sooo I’m especially surprised at y00ts sales on Polygon, and that 85% were migrated in the first 24 hours. 🤯 Staking continues to incentivize holders to keep them locked up and unlisted.
Shoutout to subinium who created the Dune dashboards for some of this data.
At the end of the day, it’s tough to disagree that Frank is winning in our attention-driven economy.
Leading up to the DeLabs event for NFT NYC, he is “locking in” in a remote location to “start the next chapter.”
The bridges for his collections have no return path to the chain that first supported DeGods back in 2021. They are a one-way ticket to increased liquidity and (some would argue) a more resilient blockchain.
Meanwhile, Solana collections are fighting to take the top spot on the Magic Eden rankings in DeGods & y00t’s absence. Will any of them be next to change chains? 👀
Interested in sponsoring BxB? We’re a woman-owned publication here to help elevate web3. Reach out on Twitter.
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