How Moonbirds Made $60M in 6 Days

2021 was the year that saw tremendous growth in the popularity of non-fungible tokens and launched them into the mainstream. There has been a lot of argument and discussion about Moonbirds_xyz and why they have a mint cost of 2.5Eth. Here I’ll try to explain why that pricing might still be reasonable.

What is Proof Collective?

Proof Collective is a group of 1000 NFT collectors behind the Moonbirds. The Proof Collective is an NFT-gated membership platform where members may share investment opportunities and gain access to some of the most sought-after whitelists. Proof debuted in a Dutch auction in December 2021 and has since risen in value from $5.000 to $375.000.

Proof Team

Kevin Rose, Co-Founder

Digg, ZERO, and Oak were all founded by him. He was previously a General Partner at Google Ventures, where he invested in Ripple, Blue Bottle, Medium, and Nextdoor, among other firms. He started his investing career as an angel investor on Twitter, Facebook, and Square.

Justin Mezzell, Co-Founder

He has previously worked with Google, Twitter, PayPal, Facebook, Disney, and Time, Inc. as an illustrator and designer.

Ryan Carson, COO

He previously created Treehouse and Dropsend and Carsonified, a workshop that trained thousands of online designers and developers.

Ryan LeFevre (MeltingIce), Director of Engineering

He spent 7 years as the Principal Engineer at HODINKEE, where he had a hand in practically every released product. Since 2012, he has made over 1,500 code additions each year.

Work done by Proof Collection

The PROOF team has brought together artists and collectors in a small group and enabled an active, two-way discussion between them that has never been seen in the NFT art sector before.

Release of Grails

GRAILS was published as the PROOF genesis project, allowing holders to mint a piece by some of the most  well-known NFT artists for only 0.1ETH. There is also a slew of assured allow lists for new projects in high demand.

About Moonbirds NFTs

Moonbirds, A collection of 10,000 non-fungible tokens that took flight on Ethereum’s network on April 16, 2022, under the ERC-721 standard. Moonbirds NFTs are “utility-enabled PFPs with a profoundly diverse and distinct pool of rarity-powered features,” according to an official website. Every Moonbird earns private club membership and extra perks the longer you keep them because of a non-custodial mechanic known as Nesting, which is designed to favor early, diamond-handed Holders.

Reason Behind Owl mascot

The Moonbirds and their owl mascot were chosen for their wise qualities: In the emoji space, they are all-seeing, clever, knowledge-driven, severe yet enjoyable, and ownable.

Moonbirds –A chance to try new Mechanisms

Moonbirds will allow us to try out new mechanisms in a product playground run by one of the most creative and experienced teams in both web2 and web3.

Throughout the project, there are entertaining and engaging mechanics such as all nested Moonbirds receiving airdrops on full moon nights OR accessing more nests and the inherited benefits through cooperation with others.

Benefits for Moonbird Holders

Mentioned benefits will be given to the Moonbird holders:

Early access and Discounts

Moonbirds will get early access and discounts to PROOF of Conference events and access to the token-gated PROOF Discord and its NFT research papers.

Full-IP rights

Full-IP rights are granted with no restrictions on the holder’s commercial revenue. In terms of business activities and potential, they can do whatever they want with their Moonbirds.

Proof Pass and claim to Highrise Project

Many people are unaware that Moonbirds will also receive their claim to Project Highrise, a first-party metaverse, and the genesis PROOF pass. There, they will be able to share their favorite NFTs, connect with others, and take control of their area.

About Graill II

Grails II took place on April 16, 2022, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. There were a total of 10,000 Moonnbirds available, each worth 2.5 ETH. The anticipated NFT project Moonbirds have been distributed; 7,875 Moonbirds will be sold to raffle winners. Two thousand birds will be distributed to Proof Collective members, while 125 birds will be held in the treasury and used in future projects.

Even though the mint was not at the same price as PROOF members, we expected Moonbirds to have a mechanism of involvement in purchasing those art pieces by renowned NFT artists.

(Raised 59 million ETH or 19,688 ETH)

The unjust distribution of Moonbirds

The PROOF team will not allow current Moonbird holders to receive an unjust distribution of Moonbirds through sale methods, as has been the case in the past. If any PROOF member wants more birds, we must win the raffle and purchase them at the same price as everyone else. In reality, the team’s constant driving factor behind every Moonbird choice has been to ensure that the project is distributed as widely as possible. More than whales, PROOF members, flippers, cook groups, or bots were on their wishlist.

The core crew will not receive any of the proceeds. PROOF Holdings Inc. will receive 100% of the revenues, which will fund the establishment of PROOF Academy, PROOF of Conference, and other holder tools, benefits, and events.

Nesting Mechanics

Your Moonbird will begin to earn extra benefits after it is nested (scheduled to be released a few days after launch). Your Moonbird will gain additional tier levels as their total nested time increases, allowing them to upgrade their nest.

Drops and Rewards

Nests that have been upgraded provide better drops and rewards. The nesting function updates your “nested” token attribute. This means it is non-custodial (no need to transfer it to another contract) and will not affect the holder numbers displayed on OpenSea and other systems.

Security

When a Moonbird is nested, it can’t be stolen via any of the more recent phishing

schemes, which all rely on the essential ERC721 transfer functions.

Another Special Feature of Moonbirds

A specific feature on the website allows holders to transfer Moonbirds between their accounts, for example, if their wallet is compromised due to a rogue signature. This feature will not work with swapping or selling platforms.

In short, Moonbirds isn’t just another PFP mint that’s vulnerable to vaporware, rug pulls, 3D metaverse models, or a P2E game. Moonbirds is also a part of an NFT collective at the cutting edge of reward mechanics and experimentation, led by an exceptionally experienced, creative, and knowledgeable team that has “been there.”

While the 2.5 ETH entry fee is a bit steep, it’s sometimes the price you have to pay to join a project with a proven track record, such as PROOF, because of the great demand from the broader community.

Team’s Efforts to make the mint successful

Given the technological and time constraints, the team has gone above and beyond to ensure that the mint distribution is as fair as feasible. The raffle will be chosen based on concealed mechanisms and criteria that will not be revealed until the mint. The team’s enthusiasm for the project is palpable. Since last year, they’ve been working feverishly to lay the groundwork for PROOF’s foundation and broad ecosystem. Moonbirds were also created so that everyone can identify with a Moonbird based on its characteristics.

There will be a Moonbird for you and a true collector’s community, eager to greet you with open arms, no matter who you are, where you’re from, or what you’re into.