In the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) world, an investor’s dream is to get their hands on extremely valuable NFT sets like the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT sets, which society has now reserved for the elites of the world, as early and cheap as possible, before the parabolic rise in their floor price.
Asides from the growth in their respective NFT floor price, these exclusive NFTs come with added real-life benefits like access to exclusive airdrops, access to backstage passes at concerts and much more.
However, Moonbirds may already be too late for some who have dreamed to get on the train of owning an elite NFT set that is just as prestigious as the BAYC. This is because in just 5 days after its launch, its floor price went from 2.5 ETH to peek out at 20 ETH, representing a 700% increase.
The Moonbirds NFT Set
The Moonbirds NFT collection launched on Saturday, the 15th of April and the set quickly sold out its fixed-price drop, the industry’s term for a debut. The NFT set is a collection of 10,000 computer-generated pixelated owl avatar that was created by the Proof Collective.
The Proof Collective is part of the reason why this NFT set was quick to raise to become among elite NFT sets. They are a group of 1,000 NFT collectors, whose members include well-known NFT figures, such as Mike Winkelmann, known popularly as Beeple, and investor/life coach Gary Vaynerchuk.
The Proof Collective was co-founded by Kevin Rose and Justin Mezzell. They are also highly visible and respected in the NFT world. Kevin Rose, for example, is a venture capitalist at True Ventures who focuses on blockchain startups and hosts popular podcasts focused on crypto.
To become a member of this elite club doesn’t come cheap. In early December 2021, the average price for a Proof NFT, which represents membership to the group, was 1.99 Ether, which at the current market price, is the equivalent of approximately $6,270, according to NFT marketplace OpenSea. Currently, the minimum price is now 98 Ether which is $308,700.
As with other elite NFT sets like the BAYC, MAYC, Azuki and so on, Proof offers members access to events, its private Discord group chat, and collaborations. One of those collaborations gave birth to Moonbirds.
What you should know
- To give the general public a chance to own this NFT set, Moonbirds created a raffle system that guarantees access to the winner, to mint or create Moonbirds NFTs upon their launch. One mint was allowed per raffle winner for 2.5 Ether or $7,875, according to the Moonbirds website.
- Proof members were able to enter the raffle as well but were also guaranteed two Moonbirds for every Proof membership NFT they owned. Of the 10,000 Moonbirds total, 7,875 were allotted for those who won the raffle; 2,000 for Proof Collective members; and 125 for distribution by the Moonbirds team.
- Although the NFT launch was successful, recording a total volume of over $300 million in just 5 days of its launch, the Moonbirds drop was clouded with controversy, with accusations that some bots had manipulated the raffle to their benefit.
- According to CoinDesk, there are also allegations that the project’s leaders used inside knowledge to buy Moonbirds that featured rare traits, which could lead to their price being higher in the future.
- As benefits go, those who hold Moonbirds can also “nest,” a term used to describe staking, their NFTs, which according to their website gives participants the ability to “accrue additional benefits as total nested time accumulates.” This means that NFT holders can get upgrades like “enhanced drops and rewards” over time.
According to Kevin Rose, the success surrounding Moonbirds will mark the beginning of a new company. On Saturday, Rose posted a YouTube video in which he said Proof would use the proceeds to “build a new media company.”
Moonbirds supporters see the NFT drop and planned ecosystem as valuable and something like what Yuga Labs built with its successful Bored Ape Yacht Club, a top NFT collection that grew to become the centre of its own metaverse and ecosystem. But others said the surge in value was suspicious.
A Twitter account, NFT Ethics, which acts as a watchdog over the NFT industry, took to Twitter to accuse the Proof Collective of “wash trading” its membership NFTs or manipulating their price. That’s when a seller is on both sides of a transaction, so as to create an artificially high value for an asset. NFT Ethics also accused the Collective of “nepotism” by trading or giving free membership NFTs to family and friends.
Kevin Rose responded to the criticism on Twitter by saying “Wow, just wow, this is so riddled with falsities it’s ridiculous – invite me to any podcast, any time… you’re just making things up at this point.”
So far, there are currently 6,639 owners and the NFT set has a trade win rate of 97.92%. Already, we are seeing Moonbirds NFT enter the top 10 sales list of the space. This list is usually reserved for only the top elite NFT sets in the space. In the top 30, there are 4 Moonbirds NFTs that already rank, again, just five days after launch.
Moonbirds is still relatively cheap compared to other elite NFT sets like the BAYC, MAYC, and so on. Moonbirds floor price currently stands at 15.85 ETH and when compared to these sets like the BAYC for example, which has a floor price of 112 ETH or the MAYC, with a floor price of 29.69, it can still be considered as early if you decide to jump in to buy this NFT set.
