Moonbirds jumps to the top of the NFT chart with $290 million in sales in 4 days

The newly launched Ethereum-based Moonbirds NFT project is surging to the top of the trading volume leaderboard after generating $290 million worth of sales in just four days.

A total of 10,000 computer-generated pixel owl avatar NFTs sold out quickly on April 16, each minted at 2.5 Ethereum (ETH), or $7,700 at current prices. Since then, the floor price (the lowest average selling price) in the secondary market has exploded, and OpenSea is currently trading for as much as 18.45 ETH ($56,800).

According to CryptoSlam, the project generated more than $289.9 million in secondary sales (this figure also includes minting sales). This data ranks the item as the best-selling NFT collectible on both the 7-day and 30-day metrics, and the second-highest in the past 24 hours.

Looking at the 30-day chart, the gap in transaction volume is stark, with Moonbirds’ NFT sales 52% higher than second-ranked Azuki ($189.3 million) and 76% higher than BAYC ($164.6 million).

DappRadar also highlighted that the Moonbirds #7963 NFT had the ninth-largest sale of all NFT collectibles in the past week at 135 ETH ($410,000).

The Moonbirds project follows a similar route to Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), launching utility-focused NFTs that allow holders access to a private ecosystem and membership club.

Per the project’s roadmap, benefits for holders will include priority access to future releases, membership clubs, merchandise, and early access to the upcoming Metaverse platform “Project Highrise.”

The Moonbirds NFT series was founded by PROOF Collective, a company that is working on multiple NFT projects and is also an exclusive social club for PROOF Collective's 1,000 NFT holders. At the time of writing, the floor price for this collectible membership pass is an eye-watering 91 ETH ($278,800).

The impressive launch of Moonbirds appears to be the result of strong investor support for the founding members of the PROOF Collective, including tech entrepreneur and Digg founder Kevin Rose, and web3 investors Justin Mezzell and Ryan Carson.

An NFT collector who goes by the name "Cryptococity" on Twitter highlighted Rose yesterday, noting that they backed the project because of his solid reputation in the web2 and web3 worlds, his connections, and his NFT-focused podcast "contains an insight into the Some of the most life-changing 'alphas' from his listeners."