Scrap-metal billionaire Adam Weitsman buys over 5,000 Yuga Labs NFTs

Billionaire Adam Weitsman, an investor and owner of a scrap metal processing company, said he bought over 5,000 NFTs from Yuga Labs, the web3 studio behind the once wildly-popular Bored Ape Yacht Club token collection.

“Today is a special day for me. I’m making a long-term investment in Otherside and acquiring over 5,000 Otherdeeds, Mega Kodas and Weapon Kodas direct from Yuga Labs to continue building my collection,” the entrepreneur posted to X on Monday, adding that he’s also committed to “making a series of acquisitions on the open market this year.”

Amid a collapsed NFT market, Yuga Labs has, in recent months, been forced to sell prime brands like Moonbirds and CryptoPunks, collections that used to rank among the top in terms of trading volume. In March, DappRadar said trading volumes for the most popular NFT collections had declined by 95%.

Weitsman said he hopes his purchase will help to support Yuga Labs’ efforts to build out its metaverse project, Otherside.

“I have recently seen Yuga refocus and prioritize [ [Otherside]. There is a lot riding on this project for the whole space and I will do my best to help make it a success for everyone,” he wrote.

When Otherside first launched in May 2022, the parcels of virtual land called “Otherdeeds” sold out within hours and netted Yuga Labs $317 million in sales. The NFTs entitle the holder to a plot of land in the game and a creature called a Koda, which lives on the land.

Almost immediately after, trading volume more or less flatlined, according to CryptoSlam data. The floor price for an Otherside Otherdeed was about $640 on Monday, according to OpenSea data. In late 2023, Yuga Labs’ then-CEO said that after a company restructuring, the firm would focus on developing Otherside.

“Otherside is a gamified, interoperable metaverse currently under development,” according to the project’s website. “The game blends mechanics from massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) and web3-enabled virtual worlds. Think of it as a metaRPG where the players own the world, your NFTs can become playable characters, and thousands can play together in real time.”

After tremendous fervor revolving around metaverse projects, principally launched by Meta, and web3 platforms like The Sandbox and Decentraland, metaverse-focused development effectively came to a halt when crypto prices fell amid a bearish cycle.