What’s Behind the Price Surge

A little over a year ago, Moonbirds was a cautionary tale.

The once-hyped Ethereum profile picture (PFP) project, launched in 2022 by Kevin Rose’s Proof to immense demand, had seen its reputation crater amid community backlash, ownership shakeups, and plummeting prices.

Holders griped about broken promises, shifting roadmaps, and changing leadership. By mid-2023, the project’s floor price had fallen from double-digit ETH highs to well under 1 ETH, making it an enduring punchline in NFT circles.

Fast forward to today, and Moonbirds is flying high again, re-emerging as one of the most talked-about collections in crypto. The catalyst? Its May acquisition by Orange Cap Games, a gaming and IP development studio led by Spencer Gordon-Sand, who simply goes by his first name online.

That move, announced in May, was meant to give the studio a property to build around—but it also lit a spark under the once-mocked collection.

“We wanted to take our growth to the next level by acquiring our own native IP,” Spencer told Decrypt. “Moonbirds is my favorite IP in crypto. I was once the largest holder of Oddities because I was just so bullish on the Mythics art, and I think it totally delivered. The birbs are sick.”

When Orange Cap first took over Moonbirds, the brand was effectively in stasis following its acquisition by Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs a year prior.

“Its operations had not been actively managed for quite a while,” Spencer recalled. “We needed to take a stepwise approach: first reactivate the existing community, then bring in Crypto Twitter and new people who previously didn’t have exposure.”

That strategy has paid off big in recent weeks. While Spencer wouldn’t comment directly on price speculation, he noted that when Orange Cap stepped in, the price floor—or value of the cheapest listed NFT on a marketplace—sat at just 0.29 ETH.

Now it’s above 3 ETH. But the swing looks even more dramatic in U.S. dollar terms, due to the recent surge in Ethereum’s price. Moonbirds traded for under $800 in May, but as of Friday, they started at nearly $14,000 on marketplaces.

It recalls the second-life success of Pudgy Penguins, an NFT brand that cratered in early 2022 amid leadership issues and community uproar. Sold to entrepreneur Luca Netz that year, the Ethereum project soared to fresh peaks thanks to the viral success of its social media strategy, token-linked toys sold in major mainstream stores like Walmart, and other efforts.

Amid the Moonbirds price swing and its own change in ownership, the community energy feels different lately. While a surge in value is sure to make anyone perk up, Spencer believes that Moonbirds holders have other reasons for renewed optimism.

“A lot of crypto has become very jaded,” Spencer said. “Moonbirds are not that. The community genuinely cares about wanting to be on the forefront of technology. As we’ve partnered with protocols and others, they’re not just interested in farming or quick flips.”

The power of “birbish”

One of the more surprising drivers of the turnaround wasn’t a major tech integration or celebrity endorsement—it was a linguistic shift.

“If I had to attribute our momentum to one thing, it’s the decision to consciously introduce the word ‘birb’ into the vernacular around the collection,” Spencer said.

“Birbs and ‘birbish’ are just deeply mimetic,” he added. “‘GBirb’ is the calling card of the community. ‘Birbish’ is an easy, meaningful, and effective response to any question. It’s given a brand new life with a younger, fresher, more memetic feel.”

On Wednesday, after Bitcoin reached all-time high, famed crypto artist Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann posted a new piece called “ALL TIME HIGH,” with a clear reference to Moonbirds. The piece depicts a defaced McDonald’s counter littered with crypto graffiti, including the word “birbish” scrawled across the front.

This kind of identity reframe has helped Moonbirds reconnect with NFT Twitter culture, where memes often make or break a brand.

Looking ahead, Orange Cap Games has a simple vision: “The long-term goal is to take the birbs to Birbhalla,” Spencer said.

Orange Cap, known for bringing IP to life through its Pudgy Penguins-themed Vibes trading card game, sees Moonbirds as a cornerstone for broader entertainment and gaming initiatives, similar to how Labubu giant Pop Mart develops both collaborations and its own characters like Hirono. But they aren’t sharing concrete plans just yet.

“We have a lot of cool stuff we are working on, but we have [never] made specific commitments about it in public, and that’s very much on purpose,” said Spencer.

“If you want to ride with us, ride with us,” he continued. “We will do cool stuff on this ride, but when teams make specific commitments prior to being ready to deliver, this is typically what puts them in tough situations if they need to pivot or anything. That’s why you see a lot of teams stuck delivering old promises.”

Are NFTs back?

It’s not only Moonbirds that are flying again lately. The influential CryptoPunks also recently hit a more than three-year price high in U.S. dollars, trading for nearly $250,000 a pop, while other “blue chip” NFTs—like Tyler Hobbs’ “Fidenza” generative art collection for Art Blocks—have also posted multi-year highs of late. And NFT trading volume rose in July compared to June.

But Spencer is quick to temper the hype. There’s more buzz around NFTs than there has been in a while, but he cautioned against assuming that another wild boom is imminent.

“Yes, but it’s not every NFT collection,” he said about the current upswing. “It’s exactly like the dot-com bubble—tons of things went public just on a domain name, but when the water went out, you saw who was swimming naked. Out of that came Facebook, Amazon, Google.”

“The same thing is happening here,” he said. “The next cycle is now. It’s not as frothy, but real brands and real businesses can rise to the top.”