Moonbirds needs a team that centers around the Moonbirds, and Orange Cap Games is the best choice to unleash their potential.
Written by: June, Deep Tide TechFlow
The world of NFTs is never short of ups and downs, but few projects have been able to dramatize the highs and lows like Moonbirds. From a glorious peak of 38.5 ETH to a plunge into the abyss at 0.22 ETH, it made a breathtaking turnaround in just three months.
The turning point came the moment Spencer acquired Moonbirds. From peak to fall, and then to rebirth, it traversed the craziest curve in digital collectibles, with Spencer standing at the center stage, reshaping a forgotten project into the hottest NFT in the crypto circle.
Peak Start
On April 16, 2022, Moonbirds, created by Digg co-founder Kevin Rose, officially debuted with a minting price of 2.5 ETH. 7,875 NFTs were swept away through a whitelist in just 48 hours. Holders believed they were purchasing not just pixelated owls, but the core ticket to the PROOF ecosystem—a private community limited to 1,000 top NFT collectors and artists.
A small incident occurred on the day of the project’s minting. COO Ryan Carson was found to have spent $580,000 sweeping up rare Moonbirds. As an insider with access to rarity data, his precise "sniping" was akin to blatant insider trading. The community criticized the internal trading on Discord, and under public pressure, Carson announced his resignation nine days later to start his own NFT fund, 121G.
This incident surprisingly did not become Moonbirds' Waterloo, and market sentiment remained hot. The floor price rose from 3 ETH to 6 ETH, then to 13 ETH, and finally surged to 38.5 ETH. In less than a week, early minters saw a 15-fold return, one of the fastest wealth creation myths in NFT history.
Fun Fact: At that time, Moonbirds also introduced a "Nesting" mechanism. In simple terms, it was "soft staking": Moonbirds would be locked in the holder's wallet, unable to be traded, but could earn additional rewards. This design turned players who originally wanted to cash out quickly into long-term holders.
Trust Collapse
However, the turning point soon arrived. On August 5 of the same year, Rose made a shocking decision that stunned the entire community: unilaterally announcing that Moonbirds would adopt the CC0 protocol without community discussion. This meant that holders lost exclusive commercialization rights to the NFTs, allowing anyone to use Moonbirds images for commercial activities.
For many, this was a blatant betrayal. It marked the first real rift between the leadership and the community, casting a shadow over Moonbirds from that point on.
At that time, influenced by crypto artist XCopy, CC0 was gaining popularity in the art world. Open copyright meant that works could be more easily remixed, turned into memes, and made into merchandise, thereby increasing exposure. For a single artwork, this might be a shortcut to amplifying influence. But the problem was, Moonbirds was not a single artwork, but a PFP series. The logic of PFP contradicts CC0; the avatar itself is the entry point of the IP, and holders were willing to invest time and money to build it precisely because of its exclusivity.
The backlash was extremely intense.
Three years later, Twitter KOL @waleswoosh reflected on the matter, stating that the community's panic over CC0 now seems somewhat exaggerated, as very few holders can successfully commercialize PFP licensing.
But at that moment, Rose's misstep and poor communication ignited the dissatisfaction of the entire community.
The decline of Moonbirds began from there.
From August 2022 to the end of 2023, Moonbirds' floor price plummeted from 19 ETH to less than 2 ETH.
Fun Fact: At that time, almost all projects were releasing merchandise, and Moonbirds was no exception. The official airdropped a wave of exclusive memorabilia to holders participating in Nesting. The author himself received it and honestly resonated with the following comment.
Silent Era
In February 2024, Yuga Labs, the parent company of Bored Ape Yacht Club, acquired Proof and its projects, including Moonbirds. Upon the announcement, OpenSea CMO Adam Hollander bluntly stated it was "a mess," further adding, "Moonbirds is one of the worst operational cases in NFT history. They made nearly $100 million but failed to deliver on their promises."
The acquisition brought a glimmer of hope. Holders were told that Moonbirds would be integrated into the Otherside metaverse. The news briefly spurred the floor price from 1.5 ETH to 2.5 ETH, but it only lasted for two weeks. Yuga attempted to mend the rift by reverting the copyright model from CC0 back to exclusive commercial rights for holders and launched brand new 3D avatars for animation and Otherside integration.
Unfortunately, these efforts did not resonate with the community. By August 2024, the floor price plummeted to 0.22 ETH, only slowly recovering to 0.8 ETH by the end of the year.
For the vast majority, this project seemed to have long been a mere name.
Fun Fact: Kevin Rose publicly admitted that he relied on K to relieve the pressure of operating Moonbirds. After Proof was acquired by Yuga Labs, some interesting voices appeared in the comments.
Who is this person named Spencer?
If you have the same question, you’ve come to the right place.
On May 31, 2025, the news of Moonbirds being acquired by Orange Cap Games was announced on Twitter. The co-founder of Yuga Labs stated in the announcement: "Moonbirds needs a team that centers around the Moonbirds, and Orange Cap Games is the best choice to unleash their potential."
Standing in the spotlight is Spencer, the founder of Orange Cap Games. From this moment on, the fate of Moonbirds began to reverse.
Unlike past "grand narratives," Spencer did not present a massive roadmap upon taking office. He even stated directly: "We will not fulfill the old vision of Moonbirds, but will create our own roadmap. Some people may not like this, but that's okay."
This statement sounds simple, but it is this sense of authenticity that reignited confidence. After experiencing the controversy of CC0 and leadership turmoil, the Moonbirds community needed not empty promises, but someone who could communicate continuously and step up to lead. Spencer gradually rebuilt trust in the most fundamental way: posting passionately in support of Moonbirds, tirelessly answering community questions, shouldering all doubts, and becoming the most solid backbone in the hearts of holders.
Moonbirds was reborn, and community cohesion reached unprecedented heights.
On July 21, Spencer summarized the milestones of the 51 days since Orange Cap Games took over on Twitter: OpenSea directly replaced Moonbird as the official avatar; the series topped the Ethereum NFTs trading list for five consecutive days; the Telegram community surpassed 25,000 active members; and $1.4 million entered the prize pool for purchasing stickers.
Rallying the Birb Army
From the low point of 0.3 ETH when Spencer took over to last week's 3.9 ETH, Moonbirds' floor has rebounded over 1000%. A series that seemed to be at its end in early 2025 is now soaring once again.
This is not a coincidence. As early as the coldest winter of the NFT market in 2023, Spencer made a seemingly crazy decision: he swept up a total of 144 Pudgy Penguins from the bankruptcy liquidation of Three Arrows Capital at a medium price in the six figures, publicly stating he did not intend to sell. What seemed like a crazy move at the time ultimately helped him earn over $10 million.
This "diamond hands" attitude sent a clear signal to the market: Spencer is not a short-term speculator, but a true long-term builder.
Through Orange Cap Games, Spencer turned the IP of Pudgy Penguins into a card game, Vibes TCG, generating over $1.5 million in revenue and surpassing 350,000 online matches. This living example proves that NFTs are not just speculative tools, but real IPs that can "break into" the mainstream market.
When he announced taking over Moonbirds, the community naturally projected their hopes onto him, perhaps Moonbirds could replicate the success trajectory of Pudgy Penguins. After all, Pudgy Penguins had also fallen into a low point but revitalized under the right management.
This familiar storyline fundamentally shifted the community's mindset: from "when to sell" to "why to hold on." Moonbirds was no longer just a temporary chip for speculators but gradually began to be seen as a brand asset under construction.
On Twitter, this meant reclaiming the attention of the crypto Twitter (CT) community, and the most direct way to do that was to generate enough discussion. The Birb Army was gradually rallied by him, and Moonbirds quietly established its presence on Twitter.
However, for the Moonbirds community, the price rebound was merely a surface phenomenon; what truly rebounded was the belief.
Spencer's methodology is actually quite simple: the best marketing is not a dazzling roadmap or fantastical promises worth hundreds of millions, but rather doing solid work that makes the community feel they are participating in a valuable construction.
In other words, all of this is just a bet on Spencer, and judging by the current results, the market clearly chooses to believe in him.
The Return of Moonbirds
For Moonbirds, the story is just beginning.
In a recent interview, Spencer discussed his phased plan: Step 0 is to awaken the community, Step 1 is to build Moonbirds into an IP platform, and Step 2 is to deliver products and collaborations.
"In five years, I hope Moonbirds will become an omnipresent IP, something that every household recognizes, with its physical products on store shelves, and become a digital presence that attracts more newcomers into this field."
Now, momentum is already showing. On August 18, 2025, Moonbirds became the first NFT project to top the Kaito leaderboard, symbolizing that its influence is breaking through the core circles. Meanwhile, speculation about a potential token and Spencer's relationship with Pudgy Penguins founder Luca Netz has further heightened expectations.
The return of Moonbirds may mean they are no longer just passersby this time.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
