Users End Up Spending $26M In Ethereum Gas Fees, Trying To Mint VaynerSports NFTs

The VaynerSports Pass NFT project faced harsh criticism on Tuesday after users spent three times the NFT sale amount on gas fees alone.  

What Happened: The VaynerSports Pass NFT collection was launched by AJ Vaynerchuk, brother of prominent internet personality Gary Vaynerchuk also known as Gary Vee.

The widely anticipated public mint went live on Tuesday but users found themselves paying a cumulative amount of $26 million in gas fees. Meanwhile, the total amount made from the NFT sale was just $8.6 million.

AJ Vaynerchuk addressed the issue on Twitter Inc. TWTR calling the mint “a failure” on his part.

Not ideal. If I could do it over again we would have went with an allow list leading up over a period of time. A failure on my part

— AJ Vaynerchuk (@ajv) April 5, 2022

The project’s popularity caused a surge in Ethereum ETH/USD fees and a poorly designed contract appeared to make matters worse. Reports indicate that some users encountered “failed transactions,” meaning that they lost an exorbitant amount in gas fees and did not successfully mint an NFT either.

Oh what's that? you thought the bull run was back? @ajv and @garyvee 's VaynerSports Pass just burned 6300 ETH out of the NFT space in purse gas fees because of their public mint and a horrendous contract. GG's and goodbye potential bull run pic.twitter.com/tN0kxKHd58

— WYZRD.eth (@WYZRD_) April 5, 2022

“Currently working through a refund plan. And yes, plan to pour in the effort to make holders happy with their decision to mint today,” stated Vaynerchuk in response to whether he would compensate users for failed transactions.

I do understand. We are not refunding everyone who spent money on gas to mint, but there are certain situations that we will be refunding for

— AJ Vaynerchuk (@ajv) April 5, 2022

Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, Ethereum was trading at $3,341, down 5.10% over the last 24 hours.

Photo courtesy: VaynerSports