The
Steam Holiday Auction page
reveals that this event was halted shortly after
last night's
launch. Though Valve doesn't reveal the "issues" they are "working
frantically" to sort out,
a post on reddit says a gem duplication exploit is what they are scrambling
to address. Here's Valve's official statement:
Sorry, but there have been
some issues with Gems and the Steam Holiday Auction has been temporarily closed.
The elves are working frantically to get the issues sorted out, and the auction
will start again as soon as they're done.