What Are These PFP Owl NFTs?

Over a yr has handed since Moonbirds first exploded onto the NFT scene in April 2022. Simply days after its launch, the undertaking had already achieved upwards of 100,000 ETH (round $300 million) in secondary gross sales quantity. And in underneath per week, Moonbirds entered into the highest 10 highest-grossing NFT collections.

As of Might 2023, although, the ground value for a Moonbird NFT stands at 2.04 ETH. This improvement invitations an insightful dialogue concerning the successes, the setbacks, and all of the nuanced particulars in between for this intriguing NFT undertaking.

What are Moonbirds NFTs?

Moonbirds is a set of 10,000 NFTs launched on April 16, 2022. It was created by outstanding American web entrepreneur Kevin Rose as a part of his not too long ago established Proof Collective — a personal members-only collective of NFT collectors and artists. Previous to Moonbirds and turning into a outstanding title in Web3/NFTs, Rose had already solidified himself as an web celeb, investor, podcaster, and founding father of news aggregator Digg, amongst different ventures.

Though the gathering encompasses a complete of 10,000 NFTs, the complete provide was disseminated in three main chunks. First, 2,000 NFTs have been reserved for Proof Collective members to mint previous to the overall sale. As there are a complete of 1,000 member passes that make up the Proof Collective ecosystem, every token finally yielded two free NFTs for its proprietor. This was an excellent deal when you have been one of many few Collective members that owned multiple Proof membership cross NFT.

A provide of seven,875 NFTs was launched to most people by way of a whitelist. This record was comprised of the fortunate winners of a widespread raffle held by Proof that required potential collectors to have 2.5 ETH (the worth of 1 Moonbirds NFT) of their registered pockets on the time of entry. Other than the reserves and the raffle, the ultimate 125 Moonbirds NFTs have been held by the Proof Collective admins to be used in future collaborations, advertising and marketing, and extra.

So, who created Moonbirds?

Moonbirds was the brainchild of Kevin Rose, though there have been absolutely a large number of builders and basic Proof members that contributed to the ultimate product. One such member is Justin Mezzell, the Co-Founder and CPO of the Proof platform who can be the artist behind the Moonbirds’ distinctive pixel-art model.

Because the hundreds of NFTs throughout the assortment function all kinds of attributes, lots of of distinctive randomized visible traits have been created by Mezzell and the remainder of the artwork staff to yield a set of generative NFTs. These finally observe within the footsteps of pixel-art predecessors like CryptoPunks and CryptoSkulls, in addition to PFP powerhouses comparable to Bored Apes.

Proof Membership Passes

Proof Collective Passes have been minted on December 11, 2021, with every of the 1,000 NFTs initially promoting for 1 ETH every. Billed as a membership cross to all issues Proof, Collective Passes have been marketed as providing holders entry to a personal Discord, early entry to Proof podcast episodes, in-person occasions, and different tasks (together with Moonbirds).

The ground value for Collective Passes noticed minor fluctuations all through the remainder of 2021. It then started a sluggish rise into the double digits, hitting a minimal value of 30 ETH (round $85,000 on the time) by February earlier than skyrocketing to round 120 ETH (roughly $350,000) per week after Moonbirds launch day.

The passes additionally grant entry to the Proof Convention, which is billed as “a three-day occasion in LA that includes leaders within the Web3 motion.” Nonetheless, in February of 2023, Kevin Rose canceled the Proof Conference, a lot to the dismay of holders and group members.

“After a number of weeks of gross sales information, talking with potential sponsors, and speaking to group members, it’s clear that there’s significantly much less curiosity than anticipated for an occasion like this proper now,” Rose mentioned in a press release. “Finally, canceling the convention this yr was your best option.”

The staff refunded tickets and motels with no promise of a rescheduled date.

Utility 101: What does Moonbirds provide collectors

Other than the standard PFP NFT roadmap guarantees, the Moonbirds assortment provides a variety of incentives to its collectors.

Presumably probably the most distinctive and notable of the “utilities” provided to Moonbirds collectors is the power to stake or “Nest” an NFT. Nesting a Moonbirds NFT entails locking the NFT (making it untradeable) with out the necessity to switch it to a vault for safekeeping.

However why would you need to lock your Moonbird up? As a result of doing so will start a technique of your Moonbird NFT accruing extra advantages, attaining new tier ranges, and even upgrading their nest to turn out to be extra worthwhile, which can in flip yield much more enhanced drops and rewards.

Nonetheless, many in the community have been dissatisfied to search out that after 9 months of staking, the merch they obtained was only socks and fanny packs.

$Talons token

In April 2023, the Moonbirds staff revealed that NFT holders may earn $TALONS tokens every day by staking their NFTs.

The staff has plans to offer quite a few advantages to token holders, comparable to unique merchandise, occasions, collaborative experiences, merch, and allowlist spots. Because it stands, the $TALONS token can solely be used throughout the PROOF ecosystem.

Right this moment’s 1 min spotlight is Moonbirds saying Mythics and Talons — what you want to know.

PROOF Each day NFT Countdown additionally covers:
– Market Overview
– Moonbirds Updates
– $PEPE
– Notable Gross sales

Watch as we speak: https://t.co/dHSAxsFQPu pic.twitter.com/VMVgVBOLSB

— PROOF (,) (@proof_xyz) April 19, 2023

What are Moonbirds Oddities?

Moonbirds Oddities are a novel addition to the Moonbirds NFT assortment, serving as a peculiar but intriguing subset. They have been unveiled as the primary airdrop reward for Moonbird holders who attained the Bronze Nest standing after staking their NFTs for 30 days.

Oddities have been first depicted as owl pellets, small balls containing indigestible meals materials that owls regurgitate. On the earth of Moonbirds, these pellets started to crack open in July 2022, revealing sudden life kinds, i.e. skeletal rodents. The artwork was creatively crafted by Gremplin in his signature pixel artwork model. As of August 2022, each the Oddities and Moonbirds collections moved to a CC0 license.

The way forward for Moonbirds

On Might 29, 2023, Kevin Rose got here underneath fireplace for evaluating the Moonbirds flooring to Bored Ape Yacht Membership’s in a Twitter area. When discussing Moonbirds’ dropping flooring costs, Rose mentioned his assortment wasn’t as “down unhealthy as BAYC when it comes to USD.” 

At its peak, BAYC’s flooring value reached 153.7 ETH ($420,430). Its flooring at present stands at 47.4 ETH ($90,125). Moonbirds’ all-time excessive flooring value was 37.8 ETH ($115,500) and now has a flooring of 2.05 ($3889). Rose referred to BAYC’s flooring value dropping greater than Moonbirds, if counting US {dollars}. Some people argued that there was no want for him to attract such a comparability.

Sorry bored ape holders however y’all down greater than us therefore we up @BoredApeYC pic.twitter.com/xou8ukRyzK

— JayJay (, ) (@_JayJay88) May 29, 2023

Holders (of each Moonbirds and BAYC), in addition to the broader NFT community collectively voiced their frustration. Kevin Rose then went on a space with ThreadGuy to clear the air. He defined the context and apologized if he offended anybody.

“We pay plenty of consideration to what’s happening throughout your complete ecosystem, together with different NFT tasks,” Rose mentioned. “However, I shouldn’t discuss different flooring costs. If I may take it again I’d.”

Whereas Moonbirds initially demonstrated a powerful begin, its reputation step by step waned over time, presenting challenges in sustaining its early success. Whether or not or not the undertaking could make a comeback remains to be to be seen, as it’s going to depend upon numerous components comparable to market developments and the undertaking’s potential to adapt and regain traction.