TIME Magazine released a new collection of 4,676 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) offering “unlimited access” to its site through 2023. It was named TIMEPieces.
Each digital item cost 0.1 ETH (~$312). The sale ended in minutes and was accompanied by anomalous Ethereum network fees. Buyers inflated the fee to gain priority for the transaction.
A user going by the handle Banterlytics noted that 22 addresses, which paid for minting 10 NFTs (worth 1 ETH each), spent 10-20 times more on gas fees than the amount spent.
22 accounts paid 10ETH + in gas to mint 10 Time Pieces NFTs https://t.co/p5bzNBxH80 pic.twitter.com/zuXrlsdXJM
— Banterlytics (@banterlytics) September 23, 2021
A co-host of the NFT-focused podcast Two Bored Apes, going by the alias Zeneca, wrote that even his experience, budget and willingness to pay gas fees over $10,000 did not help him acquire the TIME collectible.
Shout out to all that tried and failed and are now feeling the FOMO for the Time drop. Even with months of experience navigating gas wars, a war chest, and pumping 5k+ priority fee and 10k+ max fee, I didn’t get through. There’ll be another opportunity next week 🤎
— Zeneca_33 🍌 (@Zeneca_33) September 23, 2021
Presumably, some users used automated bots to purchase. This led to the concentration of tokens in a limited set of wallets. According to Etherscan, the top 100 of nearly 2,000 addresses own more than 25% of the TIMEPieces.
TIME President Kate Grossman told CoinDesk that the distribution of tokens was “not ideal”.
“I think we’ve learned a lot about gas in general. There are things you can’t control in this space”, he said.
Grossman explained that as part of bot-suppression efforts there was a limit of 10 NFTs per address. However a buyer could operate multiple wallets.
The NFT sale was blind — users did not know which particular tokens they would receive.
The NFT collection is released under the slogan Building a Better Future and is based on works by more than 40 artists from around the world.
At the time of writing, the most expensive token had sold for 69 ETH (~$215,300).
Back in March 2021, sold as non-fungible tokens three covers.
Later, the magazine began accepting cryptocurrency as payment for subscriptions, and also signed an advertising deal with Grayscale Invesments, under which the company paid the publication in Bitcoin.
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