Yuga Labs, widely regarded as the leading NFT studio, is expanding its reach. The company has revealed its acquisition of PROOF, which holds ownership of various NFT collections such as the once renowned Moonbirds collection. Yuga said it's planning to integrate Moonbirds into their metaverse platform Otherside.
The studio has been active in the field of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) since 2021. Yuga's first launch, the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) was an immediate success. Since then, the company has created and acquired many other notable collections such as the Otherside, Crypto Punks and Meebits. Now they're adding Moonbirds to their virtual zoo. The team has not yet disclosed the details of the acquisition and the total price remains unknown. Kevin Rose, the Co-Founder of Moonbirds, will be staying onboard as an advisor, while the acquisition encompasses all the PROOF projects as well as their teams (Moonbirds, Oddities, Grails and the PROOF Collective).
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What the acquisition means for the Yuga ecosystem
The next step will be the implementation of the Moonbirds NFTs into the metaverse platform "Otherside". Otherside is developed in collaboration with Improbable Worlds and Animoca Brands. The Web3-native metaverse operates on the Ethereum network and introduces ApeCoin as its native currency. The Otherside blends gaming elements with the NFT ownership, allowing players to explore, build and monetize within its virtual lands. Yuga's platform promises seamless interactions among over 10,000 players simultaneously, while striving for accessibility across web browsers and mobile devices.
“As a company committed to championing art, culture, and community on the blockchain, we’re excited to have PROOF join the Yuga ecosystem. Moonbirds is a collection with great potential and many unifying brand elements with Otherside. We look forward to PROOF Collective becoming an important part of our ongoing art and community engagement efforts.” - Daniel Alegre, CEO of Yuga Labs.
Negative reception by the NFT community
As expected, the Moonbirds floor price increased rapidly following the announcement of the deal. However, some users noted that in the days leading up to the announcement of the acquisition, there was already an extraordinary increase in trading volume. The wallets that stocked up on Moonbirds before the announcement are now sitting hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit. Some people on social media thus suggested that there were traders acting upon insider knowledge.
Moonbirds chart before the Yuga acquisition tweet.
Nope, definitely no insider trading here. pic.twitter.com/UqV0DeXUr8
— cygaar (@0xCygaar) February 16, 2024
Aside from the insider trading accusations, the crypto community wasn't happy with one specific decision made by the Yuga Labs team. Namely, keeping Moonbirds founder Kevin Rose on board. Under the lead of the american entrepeneur, the PROOF team collected almost $100 million after the initial mint. He promised holders different utility for buying and holding the NFTs. A lot of holders, however, consider Rose to have abandoned the Moonbirds collection without ever delivering on his promises.
My initial reaction: I fucking hate this.
Great for Moonbirds holders who wanted an exit. Nothing wrong with them celebrating it.
But Moonbirds has been one of the worst run projects in the history of NFTs. They made close to $100m and didn't follow through on their promises.… https://t.co/gFGnX77jZ5
— Adam Hollander (@HollanderAdam) February 16, 2024
