Moonbird’s DAO launches with $2.6 million in Ethereum and NFTs from Kevin Rose’s proof

Popular Ethereum NFT project Moonbirds will adopt social governance through a DAO— or decentralized autonomous organization — to launch in early 2023, project creator Proof announced today.

Proof, which was co-founded by CEO and tech entrepreneur Kevin Roserevealed further details for the previously confirmed DAO structure, which is being established to “empower creatives building towards advancing Moonbird’s ecosystem, reputation and lore,” according to a official explanation.

A DAO is an online group united by a common goal or purpose, with membership typically represented via ownership of a token. In this case, Moonbirds DAO will allow owners of Moonbirds and upcoming Moonbirds Mythics NFTs to join and participate, submit and vote on proposals to expand the ecosystem around the tokenized owl collectibles.

Proof’s explanation notes that the DAO is being established to “empower creatives who build towards advancing Moonbird’s ecosystem, reputation and lore.”

Rose’s startup will seed the DAO with assets worth approximately $2.6 million, including $2 million worth of ETH. Another $500,000 will be used to purchase Moonbirds NFTs on the market – an estimated 37 NFTs, based on the current floor price (or cheapest NFT available) – plus Proof will award the DAO seven of its own Moonbird NFTs, or roughly $100,000 worth.

Proof will also give 35% of the ongoing royalties from both Moonbirds and its spinoff Oddities collection to the DAO. The organization will launch with a “cold start” reminder that allows Proof to veto any “rogue proposal”, similar to how The DAO-powered Substantive Project began.

“We doubt this will happen, but want to have safeguards in place to protect against attacks until we are comfortable with the voting process,” Proof’s explanation of the structure says.

Moonbirds launched in April to a frenzy of trading activity, generating $280 million of the primary and secondary markets within just two days. To date, sales on the secondary market have topped $595 million, per data from CryptoSlam. An NFT is a blockchain token that represents ownership in a unique item – in the case of Moonbirds, a profile picture with a unique combination of different visual features.

Launching a DAO is one step is a significant evolution of the project from its original design. In August, Evidence announced that it would switch Moonbirds to an open source, “no rights reserved” model using the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.

That means anyone can use any Moonbirds or Oddities artwork to create and profit from derivative artwork and products. Moonbird’s DAO structure will tie into the updated approach, as members can vote on which spin-off projects can tap the Moonbirds trademark and use the official name.

Later in August, Proof announced plans to release its own utility token in Q1 2023, which may intersect with Moonbird’s DAO plans in some way.

“We are well aware that the world does not need another symbol for speculation,” Rose said at the time. “So when we do something, it should be uniquely our own with real utility, and something that we believe pushes what is possible in new and exciting directions. Otherwise, why would we do it? There’s just no reason at all.”

Proof also revealed Moonbirds Mythics, which will span 20,000 NFTs and launch early next year, plus a $50 million funding round led by VC giant Andreessen Horowitz.