The newly launched NFT collection VaynerSports saw its much-anticipated launch tainted by excessive gas fees, making the launch 3 times more expensive than the revenue from the sale. The mint for this new project happened last night after weeks of anticipation from fans. Yet, the event did not really go as planned for the VaynerSports Pass NFTs.
Summary:
- Let the gas war begin as eager fans outbid each other
- VaynerSports mint attracted over $26 million in gas fees
- A community backlash followed after and during the launch
- What is VaynerSports?
The official VaynerSports mint was held last night. Impressively, mere seconds after AJ Vaynerchuk posted the announcement on Twitter a full-on gas war commenced. Rubbing off the popularity of Vayner Media and Gary Vee’s successful NFT projects, VaynerSports was among the most hyped mints this week.
Consequently, a lot of NFT collectors, some of them with bags full of ETH, were anxiously waiting. Their MetaMasks connected to the official VaynerSports website. There are only 15,555 VaynerSports NFTs, so the demand far outweighed the supply.
Let the gas war begin
One of the tactics to secure a successful mint when the demand outpaces the supply is to pump up the gas fee you’re willing to pay for the transaction. The higher the price, the faster your transaction gets processed. And most importantly, the bigger the chance you get of snatching the NFT.
Unfortunately, this tactic causes the gas war phenomenon. As more people pump up their gas fee the average price of transactions on the Ethereum network spikes. At the time of the VaynerSports mint, average gas prices spiked to a whopping 4377 gwei, or $4200.
As collectors were battling to snatch a VaynerSports NFT, the mint generated a whopping $26,364,407 in gas fees. What’s even more worrying is that the collection itself generated three times less in sales at about $8 million. The striking difference in volumes has prompted a serious backlash on social media. The collection’s creator AJ Vaynerchuk admitted he would have done things differently by introducing a whitelist if he had the chance to go back.
Community backlash and response
News of the raging gas war during the VaynerSports mint started spreading quickly. Unfortunately, collectors who weren’t willing to forfeit thousands of dollars in gas fees were left empty-handed. The way the Ethereum blockchain processes transactions allows for situations in which collectors paid a gas fee but didn’t receive an NFT, as there were none left to mint. Consequently, crypto Twitter erupted with complaints.
Numerous accounts called out the mint as a failure and posted complaints about lost funds in gas fees. AJ Vaynerchuk quickly got into action. He promised to stay active for a significant period of time after the mint in order to try and alleviate some of these concerns.
In a tweet posted on the day after the mint, Vaynerchuk explained that he is already working out a refund strategy to compensate collectors who can verify they lost funds on failed transactions. Additionally, the entrepreneur has promised to create a VaynerSports Discord channel while actively monitoring feedback on Twitter for the time being.
What is VaynerSports?
VaynerSports is a collection of 15,555 unique, generative NFTs providing access to the Vayner network of athletes and NFT Collectibles. Gary Vee, AJ’s brother, has pioneered the “experience pass” NFT both with his VeeFriends collection and with his latest release Flyfish Club. Following much the same blueprint, VaynerSports aims to create a network of like-minded sports fans and athletes who will get exclusive access and benefits as members of the club. VaynerSports NFTs are the access pass to this club.
The demand for these collectible access passes was shooting through the roof during the mint last night. Impressively, despite the rather troublesome mint, the collection has attracted record secondary market sales in the past 24 hours. According to DappRadar data, VaynerSports Passes have generated the highest NFT trading volume among all monitored collections (excluding suspicious activity on two other projects on the LooksRare platform).
At the time of writing, the average price for a VaynerSports NFT is around $2,000, which is not that impressive on the backdrop of collections like MAYC, for example. However, with 4,417 sales recorded in the past 24 hours, VaynerSports Passes managed to climb the charts, despite the relatively low price per NFT.
According to AJ Vaynerchuk, a detailed roadmap and benefits package will be released in the upcoming days. For the moment, it is clear that these passes will give owners access to sports events, member-exclusive shows and live streams, and access to upcoming NFT mints.
DappRadar will continue monitoring the VaynerSports project as it recovers from the unsatisfactory initial mint experience. Despite the bumpy start, interest in the collection is growing, as more collectors want to become part of the exclusive VaynerSports experience. To get the latest NFT news first, follow DappRadar on Twitter and join our Discord community.
