NFT Gorillas Burn $90,000 Ethereum Per Minute

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The Ethereum network hit a peak burn rate of 27.90 ETH per minute Sunday as users competed to mint CyberKongz VX NFTs. 

NFTs Burn Ethereum 

As NFT mania reaches its peak, so does the amount of Ethereum burned by transactions.

This weekend saw extreme levels of Ethereum burned, fueled by the highly-anticipated CyberKongz VX project launch. The launch, which took place Sunday afternoon, saw those looking to mint an NFT gorilla compete for block space on the network in what has become commonly known as “gas wars.”

All 10,000 CyberKongz were minted minutes after the contract went live, resulting in gas prices soaring to over 1800 gwei, burning 27.90 Ethereum ($91,205) per minute at its peak. At such high prices, the cost to mint a Kong rose to over $1800, including the large miner’s tip needed to have any chance of the transaction being processed. 

Overall, the CyberKongz VX mint resulted in almost $4.7 million worth of Ethereum being burned, doubling the amount consumed by NFT marketplace OpenSea over the last 24 hours. So far, it is the most “destructive” NFT project to date in terms of Ethereum burned.

The CyberKongz mint comes as NFTs are reaching a fever pitch. Floor prices for popular projects such as Pudgy Penguins and Bored Ape Yacht Club continue to rise, with new promising NFTs getting bought up in seconds by speculators and flippers. 

The resulting high gas prices from NFT activity are burning large amounts of Ethereum thanks to the recent EIP-1559 update. Since the update went live on Aug. 5, all transactions on the network burn a base fee of the asset, causing the network to become deflationary during periods of high activity. So far, the network has burned 51,754 ETH worth over $169 million at the time of writing. Ethereum’s deflationary action is likely to continue, with many more hyped NFT projects launching later this week.

Disclaimer: At the time of writing this feature, the author owned BTC and ETH. 

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