Moonbirds will store NFT art ‘in chain’ Raises $50M in Series A funding

Storing an NFT “in the chain” means that the NFT can be generated entirely off the underlying smart contract without needing an off-chain storage provider.

PROOF, the private community behind the Moonbirds NFT collection, has announced it is shifting its blue-chip collection completely “in chain” — allowing images to be fully contained within the underlying smart contract.

In a community live stream named “Future PROOF” on Aug. 30, Harri Thomas, director of products at PROOF, explained that the new approach will mean that in the future, the viewable image of a Moonbird NFT will be “constructed from the contract itself from art layers, which are going to be stored on the blockchain.”

“We’ve talked about putting the birds ‘on the chain’, so I’m here to tell you today that they’re not only going to be ON chain, they’re going to be put IN chain.”

Thomas explained that their Ethereum-based NFTs would be different from most other NFTs, simply tokens that point to where the images are stored off-chain.

“This is an unusual approach. Certainly not unique,” explained Harris, adding that another example of an NFT project using the same approach is OnChainMonkey, a 10K PFP NFT collection launched in 2021.

Thomas declined to provide a date for when the NFT collection will make this shift, but noted that it is a “primary focus” for the smart contract team, so “hopefully not too long.”

Co-founder and chief product officer Justin Mezzell, who was one of the hosts of the live stream, added: “It's cool to enter that rarefied space of a fully in-chain project and making sure that this project is really fully decentralized and viewable for just generations.”

The live stream also revealed the first official expansion of PROOF’s Moonbirds collection, known as Moonbird Mythics — is expected to launch in early 2023. The collection will span 20,000 NFTs and is the organization’s third NFT profile picture (PFP) project.$50M in funding.

PROOF has just raised $50 million in a Series A funding round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), along with participation from Seven Seven Six, True Ventures, Collab+Currency, Flamingo DAO, SV Angel, and VaynerFund.

“It’s great to have this vote of confidence from some of the most respected investors in Web3, as well as capital to keep delivering great products and services as we mature this business over the long term,” said PROOF founder Kevin Rose.

In April, the Ethereum-based Moonbirds NFT project sold out its collection of 10,000 computer-generated pixel owl avatars within 48 hours of launch, netting $281 million in sales.

Its success despite the bear market earned it a title as a “blue-chip” NFT. According to Open Sea, Moonbirds is ranked at seven in total volume traded at approximately 169,000 Ether (ETH) and is currently ranked number one in the 24-hour charts at a floor price of 13.8 ETH.

Other announcements made during the Future PROOF live stream included an upcoming launch of a PROOF social platform, the creation of a new decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that will oversee licensing of the Moonbirds name, and a new PROOF token that will have “real utility” — with more details expected in 2023. - cointelegraph

HOT TOPICS
	Ripple Counsel: SEC's Shakedowns Leave Consumers Holding The Bag
	Bolsonaro And Lula Face Off In Brazil Presidential Debate
	Crypto Will Become An Inflation Hedge — Just Not Yet