The Defiant

Carson's Sudden Exit from Moonbirds Team Leaves NFT Investors Miffed

Proof Collective Alum Takes Flight With New NFT Fund

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Carson's Sudden Exit from Moonbirds Team Leaves NFT Investors Miffed

Ryan Carson, the chief operating officer of the Proof Collective that launched the Moonbirds NFT collection on April 16, is leaving to start an NFT fund.

The new venture,1.21 Gigawatts Fund, touts itself as “the fund you wish you could go back in time and invest in.”

Back To The Future (1985)

Carson’s departure was not well received by the NFT community.

The Proof team, led by serial entrepreneur Kevin Rose, has become the toast of NFT town after the spectacular success of Moonbirds. The NFT collection boasts a floor price of 30 ETH ($87,000), twelve times the mint price of 2.5 ETH, just 10 days after its launch.

Popular metaverse platform The Sandbox purchased Moonbird #2642 for 350 ETH ($1M) on Apr. 23.

Moonbird #2642

Rarity Sniping

Many investors decried his decision to purchase over 200 ETH ($580,000) worth of Moonbirds on launch day while knowing the collection’s rarity numbers in advance.

Source: OpenSea

Carson’s collection (pictured above) is now worth well north of $1M despite the floor price of Moonbirds dropping 25% to 30 ETH ($87,000) in the wake of the announcement.

Source: CoinGecko

Yesterday, project founder Kevin Rose tweeted that an internal policy to prevent rarity sniping was in place but that he “can’t control someone clicking a button to purchase.” He added that better safeguards would be added for future drops.

Carson had previously been criticized for speculating about the price of Moonbirds on Twitter. Project teams rarely indulge in price predictions as they can be construed as financial advice given their insider knowledge.

Rose confirmed that Carson would remain a shareholder and member of the Proof Collective.

Nothing But Noise

Many investors remain bullish on the Proof ecosystem despite the prevailing negative sentiment.

“I bought into the PROOF ecosystem because I grew up following Kevin Rose during his digg.com days. His success is credited to his fantastic run in investing early into companies such as Twitter and Facebook. However, his critics will say he has failed as an operator. My thesis remains the same — this is a pioneer and innovator in building online communities,” evets.eth, an NFT collector and longtime Proof member, told The Defiant.

When asked about Carson’s actions, he said, “Unfortunately, it distracts from the project, but I believe this will be nothing but noise in a month or two.”

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