NFT marketing company Yuga Labs announced yesterday (16) that it has acquired the development team behind the popular NFT series “Moonbirds,” known as Proof, and will incorporate the IP into its metaverse game “Otherside.” However, there seems to be undisclosed insider trading involved in this acquisition.
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Yuga Labs acquires PROOF
Existence of insider trading?
KOL: Someone acquired hundreds of Moonbirds NFT a week before the acquisition
Yuga Labs’ latest announcement states that the company has acquired PROOF, the creator of the Moonbirds NFT series. Specifically, Yuga Labs will take over the PROOF Collective, Moonbirds, and other derivative NFT brands including Oddities, Mythics, and Grails.
At the same time, Yuga Labs CEO Daniel Alegre revealed the future direction of Moonbirds in the statement: “As a highly promising NFT series, Moonbirds shares many brand elements with Otherside, so we will incorporate it into Otherside.” He added, “As a company dedicated to advocating blockchain art, culture, and community, we are pleased to have PROOF join the Yuga ecosystem.”
In addition, PROOF’s CEO Kevin Rose will continue to serve as an advisor to the PROOF team after a brief transition period.
Previously, although Moonbirds was considered the successor to Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), the floor price of Moonbirds NFT has dropped to only 1.8 ETH, a decrease of over 95% from its all-time high of 40 ETH.
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6 reasons behind the downfall of Moonbirds legend! Founder’s statement sparks controversy: Price dropped more than Bored Apes
)
Acquisition events have always caused significant fluctuations in not only traditional financial markets but also the Web3 market. However, in the past few days since the announcement of PROOF’s acquisition, the price of Moonbirds has seen a significant increase, leading to speculation within the community about insider trading.
Data from the on-chain analysis platform CryptoSlam shows that Moonbirds had relatively low daily trading volume, mostly below $100,000 in February.
However, on February 14, the daily trading volume of Moonbirds increased fivefold compared to the previous day, reaching nearly $460,000. The volume remained at a recent high of around $330,000 the next day and surged to $3.1 million after the acquisition announcement on the evening of the 16th, continuing to increase.
Many KOLs have expressed their opinions on this phenomenon, suggesting that besides potential insider trading, there is no other explanation for the surge in trading volume.
Mocaverse NFT advisor Cygaar mocked the trading chart of Moonbirds in the past week and said that there is definitely no insider trading here.
Another KOL, Cirrus, pointed out that a wallet purchased 80 Moonbirds, 71 Mythics, 28 Oddities, and 13 Mythic Eggs NFT in the past few days, making hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit after the acquisition news was released.
Moonbirds
Moonbirds Mythics
Moonbirds Oddities
Otherside
PROOF
Yuga Labs
Further reading
Market analysis after Blur airdrop: Record trading volume, OpenSea overtaken; Proof Director: Still heading towards zero taxation
NFT celebrities hacked again, PROOF/Moonbirds founder loses nearly $2 million worth of NFTs