Sunday Gas Wars: Ethereum Gas Prices Spike After NFT Frenzy

Ethereum gas prices spiked on Sunday as collectors, bots and apes raced to get their hands on newly launched NFT projects.

Gas fees, which briefly hit 600 gwei on Sunday due to demand, were reminiscent of a time when triple-digit gas fees were the norm. Gas fees for minting an NFT cost around $160. Yet, Ethereum DeFi users, who have gotten used to relatively low gas fees lately, can breathe easy as gas fees appear to be back down.

Following Wicked Craniums NFT launch last weekend, two brand new NFT collections, Polymorphs and Bulls on the Block launched 10K generative NFTs that were quickly snapped up. Investors appear to have an insatiable appetite for collectible avatars as they search for the next Bored Ape Yacht Club.

Polymorphs

Polymorphs began selling its NFTs at 2pm EST and all 10K NFTs were snapped up at 0.777 ETH apiece in around 30 minutes.

According to the launch post, the Polymorphs are a collection of morphing NFTs with 11 available base skins and 200+ traits. The Polymorph’s DNA can be scrambled by its owner, which can change the Polymorph’s base skin, outfit, and wearable items.

Bulls on the Block

Another NFT collectible project, Bulls on the Block was originally scheduled for 2pm EST as well, but ended up slightly delayed, launching at 3 pm EST instead.

The launch can best be described as a stampede. In just 13 minutes, 9,970 NFTs were sold for 0.08 ETH each, with 30 NFTs reserved for the team. Users reported transactions failing at gas prices as high as 500 gwei, over $100 per NFT!

At the time of writing, the floor price on OpenSea for Bulls on the Block is 0.18 ETH. The Polymorphs collection hasn’t gained traction on the secondary market yet, with the floor price hovering around the mint price of 0.777 ETH.