Moonbirds Trade Nearly 50K ETH, Dominate NFT Market
Following a week of low volume, the Dune dashboards detailing total OpenSea volume will show a massive positive tick upwards today after the minting of Moonbirds. Since minting, the collection has amassed more than 49,000 ETH in trading volume on the secondary market, breaking the single day record for ETH traded in a single collection which was previously held by Mutant Ape Yacht Club.
Moonbirds, which boasts 10,000 owl PFPs, started minting to its allowlist and Proof Collective NFT holders on Saturday. Two free Moonbirds were allotted to holders of the 1,000 Proof Collective NFTs, and another 7,875 eligible wallets were allowlisted for one Moonbird at 2.5 ETH.
The mint, which operated with no major hiccups, was initially intended to be a public Dutch auction with a starting price of 2.5 ETH. However, the team ultimately decided to switch to a public allowlist raffle after scrutiny was cast over the Vaynersports Pass NFT drop last week, which burned more than 4,000 ETH in failed transactions.
This move drew some criticism from notable NFT personalities, including MoonOverlord, who suggested the raffle would be gamed and that the move was a part of hype marketing that may create artificial demand. Others, like Nate Rivers, questioned the need for a successful team to take in an additional $75M before building.
More fuel was poured on the fire after Proof Collective COO Ryan Carson indicated he knew the "rarity numbers" and would be looking to acquire rare Moonbirds (which revealed instantly) at the conclusion of the mint.
4/ I will be waiting to acquire rare Moonbirds until after the public has a chance to buy them first. I currently know the rarity numbers and it would be unethical for me to snipe before that knowledge becomes public.
— Ryan Carson (🥃,🦉) (@ryancarson) April 15, 2022
But despite all the FUD shared prior to launch market participants have spoken loudly with their wallets in support of Moonbirds.
At the time of writing, more than 49,000 ETH has been traded on OpenSea's secondary marketplace and the Moonbirds floor price has increased more than 500 percent to 12 ETH.
Reports of some successful multi-account raffle winners did little to deter the velocity of sales for the collection.
In just under one day of trading Moonbirds has vaulted into the top 50 all-time in OpenSea volume trading. The collection currently ranks 28, surpassing the lifetime volume traded for notable NFT collections like Gutter Cat Gang, Invisible Friends, and mfers.
