Solana NFT Breakdowns · 04
y00ts.
Took The Grant. Gave It Back.
Episode four. Fifteen thousand items, two chain migrations in five months, and a three million dollar grant that was returned.
y00ts is a 15,000 item collection minted on Solana in September 2022 by the DeGods team. It moved to Polygon in March 2023 after a three million dollar grant, left for Ethereum five months later and returned the grant, and now trades on Solana again.
Minted
5 September 2022, priced in 375 DUST.
Polygon Grant
Paid to move chains. Reported Jan 2023.
On Polygon
March to August 2023, then gone.
Returned
The grant was given back, 10 Aug 2023.
The Rise
Launched into the top of the Solana NFT market by the team with the best distribution on the chain.
September 2022, Priced In A Token
Fifteen thousand items on 5 September 2022, and the mint was priced at 375 DUST rather than in SOL. That is a distribution decision: it forced demand through the DeGods token and made the two projects load bearing for each other.
It Inherited An Audience
It launched from the DeGods studio with the DeGods holder base already in place. Most collections spend a year trying to build that. This one started with it, which is the single biggest advantage a new collection can have.
It Was Briefly One Of The Biggest On The Chain
By the time it moved chains it was one of the largest Solana collections by market capitalisation. The migration story that follows only matters because of how big it was when it started.
The Turn, And What It Cost
Two migrations in five months, and the grant that made the first one look purchased.
January 2023, The Grant Became Public
CoinDesk reported on 6 January 2023 that Polygon had paid y00ts and DeGods three million dollars combined to migrate chains. A chain paying a collection to move is a distribution deal, and once it is public every holder has to decide whether the move was a judgement or a transaction.
March 2023, The Move To Polygon
The migration completed on 28 March 2023, per CoinDesk. Holders bridged, the collection left the marketplace and the collector base it grew up in, and Solana lost one of its largest collections at the bottom of its worst year.
August 2023, Gone Again, And The Money Went Back
On 10 August 2023 y00ts announced it was leaving Polygon for Ethereum and returning the three million dollar grant. Confirmed by CoinDesk, Cointelegraph and Decrypt on the same day. Five months on a chain it was paid to join.
Three Chains, Then Back Where It Started
Solana, Polygon, Ethereum, and it trades on Solana again today. Every leg cost holders a bridge and a marketplace change, and the round trip is the story: the collection is back where it began and the years in between are gone.
What It Teaches
Three things, and the first one is the whole page.
When A Chain Pays For A Migration, You Are The Product
The grant was the reason the move made sense for the team. It was not a reason it made sense for a holder. Returning it later does not refund anyone the five months.
Giving The Money Back Was The Right Call And It Was Still Late
Credit where it is due: they returned it, publicly, and three outlets confirmed it the same day. The move had already happened by then. Reversibility is not the same as not having done it.
Community Is Not Portable
A collection can move a contract in an afternoon. The collectors, the marketplace liquidity and the habit of checking on it do not come across, and the third move does not get the benefit of the doubt the first one did.
Supply and current floors from the live Magic Eden feed on this site, read 3 September 2026. Dated events from Hypebeast 3 October 2021 and 27 April 2022, Decrypt 17 February 2022, 13 February 2023, 20 April 2023 and 10 August 2023, CoinDesk 20 September 2022, 6 January 2023, 28 March 2023 and 10 August 2023, Cointelegraph 10 August 2023, The Block 12 May 2025, and CoinGecko for DUST token prices. Peak floor prices are not published where no dated source gives one.
The Other Breakdowns
Same shape every time: what happened, what it cost, and what it teaches.
Common Questions
A 15,000 item NFT collection minted on Solana on 5 September 2022 by the studio behind DeGods. The mint was priced at 375 DUST rather than in SOL.
CoinDesk reported on 6 January 2023 that Polygon paid y00ts and DeGods three million dollars combined to migrate. The move completed on 28 March 2023.
Yes. On 10 August 2023 it announced it was leaving Polygon for Ethereum and returning the three million dollar grant. CoinDesk, Cointelegraph and Decrypt all reported it that day.
On Solana, on Magic Eden. It went Solana, then Polygon, then Ethereum, and is back on Solana. This page does not publish the exact date it returned because no source reviewed pinned it separately from the DeGods return.
It changes hourly and the live table on this site reads it from Magic Eden. Use that rather than any number written into a page.
The Rise Is The Easy Half.
The Turn Is The Lesson.
Every breakdown on this site publishes what went wrong at the same weight as what went right, with a date on each of them.
Not financial advice.