Prices and trading volume for the Ethereum-based NFT collection Moonbirds saw a significant surge on Friday afternoon, coinciding with the announcement of Yuga Labs’ acquisition of the intellectual property (IP) for the collection alongside creator Proof. However, notable spikes in the preceding days have sparked speculation about potential insider trading activity leading up to the reveal.
Data from blockchain analytics platform CryptoSlam reveals that daily sales volume for Moonbirds NFTs had remained relatively modest, hovering below the $100,000 mark for each day this month through February 13th, with only one exception on February 4th, totaling about $141,000.
On February 14th, daily sales volume for Moonbirds experienced a fivefold increase from the previous day, reaching approximately $460,000, accompanied by nearly quadruple the number of transactions. This trend continued on February 15th, with sales volume remaining elevated at about $333,000. However, the most notable surge occurred today, with daily sales skyrocketing following the afternoon announcement, currently totaling about $3.1 million and continuing to climb.
Examining the project’s price floor—the price of the cheapest listed asset in the collection—reveals a similar pattern of increase in the days leading up to the Friday announcement. Starting at around $2,680 worth of ETH on Monday afternoon according to NFT Price Floor data, prices began climbing before surging on Wednesday to reach $5,000. Although prices started to recede thereafter, they spiked again on Friday after the announcement, briefly surpassing $6,000 worth of ETH before settling at approximately $5,170 at the time of this writing.
While it is not uncommon for asset prices to rise following significant deal announcements, the abrupt surge prior to the announcement raises questions about potential insider trading activities. Influencers, developers, and community members expressed concerns on Crypto Twitter, highlighting the possibility of insider trading.
Pseudonymous blockchain developer cygaar shared a sales/price chart for the week preceding the Yuga acquisition tweet, sarcastically remarking, “Moonbirds chart before the Yuga acquisition tweet. Nope, definitely no insider trading here.” Another prominent pseudonymous crypto trader and influencer, Cirrus, jokingly referred to a wallet that purchased more than 150 NFTs from the Proof ecosystem in recent days as “Nancy Pelosi’s wallet,” alluding to the U.S. Representative and former Speaker of the House who has faced accusations of trading stocks based on insider knowledge.
“Sitting on a couple hundred thousand in profit after the Yuga news,” Cirrus quipped, underscoring the skepticism surrounding the sudden price surges and heightened trading activity within the Moonbirds NFT collection.
The events surrounding Moonbirds’ price and volume spikes underscore the challenges and controversies within the rapidly evolving landscape of digital asset trading and NFT markets.
