Weekly NFT Preview | Moonbirds Massive ETH Profits, Where Will It Go?

Moonbirds was likely the most hyped NFT project launch of 2022, and it did not disappoint this weekend. The project smashed the previous one-day NFT revenue record of ~41,000 ETH held by Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), trading over 50,000 ETH in its first 24 hours and closing in on 69,000 ETH traded in its first two days.

The floor currently sits at 21 ETH, up from a 2.5 ETH mint price, and most buyers from Saturday and Sunday are in the green on paper.

This has been a liquidity boon for the NFT market, which saw its highest OpenSea revenue day in two months on Saturday ($177 million on the day and over $300 million on the weekend).

It is still an open question, though, as to whether or not this revenue will flow to the other top PFP projects. Only four of the top 20 are in the green on the seven-day, but recent moves by MAYC (up 11 percent to 29 ETH), Azukis (up 26 percent to 26.3), and Doodles (up 20 percent to 16.7 ETH) might be an indicator that other top projects are ripe to move in the positive direction.

The big question is: will existing projects or new projects benefit from the major ETH influx? There are some big name projects dropping this week, along with some major potential reveals and announcements (similar to last week).

Akutars From Micah Johnson

Aku is the latest NFT project from rising star artist Micah Johnson, known for his AkuDreams project and his astronaut characters. This will be Micah's first PFP launch, and he has lined up top name collaborators from fashion, sports, and streetwear, including Billionaire Boys Club, ICECREAM, Puma, and more.

"Each Akutar grants you entry into the ever-expanding Akuverse, where lines are blurred between the digital and physical worlds," The official website reads. "In which Akutar owners gain exclusive access to culture-defining experiences, products, and collaborations."

The launch of 15,000 Akutars will take place in two stages: an airdrop to all existing Aku NFT owners via the Mint Pass (around 9,300), and a public sale on Apr. 22 at 2 p.m. ET for an estimated 5,500-5,700 remaining NFTs via a modified Dutch auction.

Given the mint pass is holding a 2.66 ETH floor at time of writing and has traded 2,500 ETH on the secondary marketplace, expectations are high for this PFP project debut.

Anata Set to Launch After Delay

After a three-week delay to refine the artwork and character traits, Anata is set to finally launch this week on Apr. 21 in partnership with MetaDrop.

The Anata vision is to transform typical PFPs into "Virtual Identities" (VIDs). Their anime NFTs have the ability to connect to webcams and phone cameras and mimic the owners movements exactly. This has potential to move the PFP space forward.

The launch will be conducted via a unique auction style, where users will submit anonymous bids (above the 0.25 ETH minimum) and the top 1,920 bids will "win" and be able to mint. All 1,920 will pay the lowest bid amount.

There will be a live leaderboard where bidders can see where they stack up in real time, which will lead to some very interesting game theory dynamics in the final bidding hours.

Will the three-week delay hurt Anata's momentum? Or, is it the perfect backdrop with all the new liquidity in the NFT market? Time will tell.

Mems Tries to Create New Memories

With the mission of "promoting the creation of new memories," the Mems NFT project is set to launch this week in collaboration with premint (premint owners also received 1,000 WL spots).

This somewhat mysterious cartoon PFP collection has a series of blog posts explaining the project mission and "voyage," with more information to be revealed after the mint.

While the exact mint date is not yet known, it is expected to be this week based on the team's tweets, and it will debut with a 0.1 ETH mint price.

More information on Mems can be found on their medium page at https://medium.com/@memsnft.

4/20 and Big Potential Reveals

Anyone that has followed the NFT space for any amount of time should understand the importance of memes in the culture. One of the biggest meme days will take place on Wednesday of this week (Apr. 20, or 4/20), and one would expect to see some big announcements, stealth drops, and reveals on that day.

Here are some big potential events that could take place this week:

• MNLTH Reveal: After weeks and weeks of questing, the final MNLTH quest begins today, and the RTFKT team has promised the reveal will take place at the completion of the quest. The MNLTH price has been steadily rising in anticipation and currently sits at 7.5 ETH. The rumor mill has been swirling in overdrive in anticipation of what this reveal will be, and this NFT could be a big potential winner of the Moonbirds liquidity in the days to come.
• Yuga Land Announcement: Given the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) one-year anniversary is on Apr. 23, the market is buzzing with anticipation on a big announcement from the premier team in NFTs coming this week. The MAYC floor has been moving already today (approaching 29 ETH at time of writing), and any news this week will likely lead to a large influx in capital. There is less than two weeks left in the month of April, so time is running out for Yuga to make its move.
• Beanz Reveal: There is little available information on when Beanz from Azuki will reveal, and some mild disappointment that no hints have been given (not even at the Epik High Coachella set from Friday). But this Thursday will mark three weeks since the airdrop, and the clock is ticking. Expect some news this week.

Overall, this could be the perfect time for any and all of these projects to make big announcements or reveals, given the recent liquidity influx. If a few of these dominoes fall, this could be one of the biggest NFT revenue weeks in history. 

Good luck out there, and happy minting!