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Auction

Given the specific nature and limited number of the Bioworks, we do not believe that conducting primary sales by way of a traditional mint would be appropriate. There will only ever be one Biowork for any one species, and we expect that people will have certain Bioworks that they are most interested in collecting. On the other hand, we want Bioworks to be accessible and so conducting a standard auction for each series is unlikely to provide the best solution on its own.

Federico Paoli - Axolotl.png

Axolotl by Federico Paoli

As such, we are proposing to sell the first series of Bioworks in the Species.bio collection, the Genesis series (as well as subsequent series), on OpenSea through a novel form of no gas, no reserve auction, where any bid can win.

 

The Genesis series (the first series of the Species.bio collection) is well progressed and will be launched once the macro-economic climate improves; we will keep the community updated with further details on how to get involved.

 

In the meantime, here is a summary of how the auction process will work:

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  • Pre-minted: Each of the Bioworks in the Genesis series will be minted as NFTs on the Polygon network and will form part of the official Species.bio collection on OpenSea. These Bioworks will be minted to the Biochain official ETH address, and so Biochain will be their initial owner.

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  • Biowork Schedule: We will announce the schedule of Bioworks to be included in the Genesis series and potential collectors will be invited to bid for their favourite Bioworks by submitting bids in Polygon ETH (for help on how to bridge ETH to Polygon, take a look at this OpenSea guide) directly to the Biowork listing on OpenSea.

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  • Time Windows: The schedule will set out a series of staggered time windows within which Biochain will accept bids for each of the Bioworks (e.g. "the Hippopotamus Biowork will be sold between 13:00 and 14:00 GMT"). We will look to make the schedule relatively condensed.

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  • Win with Any Bid: The highest bid on a Biowork will be accepted in c. 75% of auctions. However, in the remaining c. 25% of auctions (i.e. WWAB auctions), any of the bids can be accepted (i.e. either the highest bid or any of the lower bids). Which bid gets accepted in a WWAB auction will be determined using a probability-based selection method; the probability of a bid being accepted being proportional to the value of the bid and calculated as (value of bid) x (whitelist multiplier, if applicable) ÷ (aggregate value of all bids, accounting for whitelist multipliers). Multiple bids submitted by the same wallet addresses will be excluded from this determination, and so each wallet may only submit one eligible bid per Biowork.

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  • Whitelist Multiplier: The whitelist multiplier will be 3x and will be applied to the bids of any ETH address that has been placed on our whitelist; in short, bids from whitelist members will be significantly more likely to be selected in a competitive WWAB auction (see below for information on how to secure a whitelist spot).

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  • Pre-determined: We will determine in advance which Bioworks will be sold in a normal auction, and which will be sold in an undervalue auction. This determination will be made in a manner that balances fairness to the artists against the desire to have top-end Bioworks accessible to collectors with lower budgets. We will not release details of the determination made in respect of a Biowork until it has been sold, to avoid discouraging people from bidding on their favourites.

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Additionally, a lower bid has a chance of becoming the highest bid if the original highest bid(s) gets removed. This would happen automatically on OpenSea if the highest bidder on a Biowork wins an auction on another Biowork and their Polygon ETH balance falls below the value of their existing bid.

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What this means is that if you would like a particular Biowork, then you should place a bid on it, regardless of whether you expect that bid to be the highest. Whilst making the highest bid on a Biowork will certainly give you your greatest chance of winning it, collectors are still very much able to win a Biowork with a lower bid.

ANiMAtttiC - Indian Peafowl_edited.png

Indian Peafowl by ANiMAtttiC

Whitelist

A limited number of whitelist spots will be awarded on a discretionary basis to certain members of the community who have been particularly involved with the project, especially in its early days. Such involvement might include being active in our Discord chatrooms, presenting great ideas and/or making/sharing social media posts regarding the project. This means that if you share a Species.bio social media post or drive discussion in the Discord, you will be in with a chance of winning a whitelist spot.

 

We will be monitoring the chatrooms and social media channels with the aim of identifying (and reaching out to) such members, but would encourage people to please reach out to the Biochain team if you have anything that you would like to bring to our attention.

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