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Bored Apes' creator Yuga Labs acquires Proof, takes over Moonbirds NFT brand

The BlockThe Block2024/02/16 20:16
By:The Block

Quick Take Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs announced it has acquired Proof, which created the Moonbirds non-fungible token collection. Yuga Labs said it will fold Moonbirds into its gamefied, metaverse play dubbed Otherside.

Yuga Labs, arguably the biggest NFT studio in the industry is getting even bigger. The company announced it has acquired rival non-fungible token creator Proof, which is best known for its Moonbirds collection.

"As a company committed to championing art, culture, and community on the blockchain, we’re excited to have PROOF join the Yuga ecosystem," said Yuga Labs CEO Daniel Alegre in a statement.

Yuga Labs declined to reveal any details regarding the acquisition when asked how much the company may have paid to acquire Proof, which was founded by Kevin Rose. Proof's Moonbirds collection was at one time one of the more celebrated NFT brands on the market, but it never managed to consistently match the sales volumes Yuga Labs' Bored Ape Yacht Club achieved.

In its statement, Yuga Labs said it planned to fold Moonbirds into its gamefied, metaverse play Otherside. "Moonbirds is a collection with great potential and many unifying brand elements with Otherside," Alegre said. "We look forward to PROOF Collective becoming an important part of our ongoing art and community engagement efforts."

Across the board, NFT trading volumes, while rebounding somewhat since the end of last year, have continued to register far below what they did during the bull run, which straddled much of 2021 and 2022. Bored Ape Yacht Club's NFTs surpassed more than $200 million in monthly sales volume on multiple occasions during the bull run, according to CryptoSlam data .

While the Moonbirds collection nearly hit $500 million in trading volume in April 2022, also according to CryptoSlam data , since then the brand's NFTs have consistently generated less than $5 million in monthly sales.

Brief 'handover' for Kevin Rose

"Kevin Rose, CEO Founder of Proof, will undergo a brief handover period before becoming an advisor to the company," Yuga Labs said in its statement. Other Proof brands that Yuga Labs will assume control of include Moonbirds' spinoff collections Oddities, Mythics, and Grails.

Rose said in the statement that Proof is both "excited to bring Moonbirds into Otherside" and that the two companies' "combined resources will allow us to innovate faster and reach more people."

In 2022, Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, led a $50 million Series A fundraise for Proof. A16z also invested in Yuga Labs in 2022.


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Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.

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