Welcome again to the Now Publication. I’m Matt Medved, reporting dwell from NFC Summit Lisbon.
That is our third 12 months as a media companion for NFC Summit, and it stays certainly one of my favourite occasions on the calendar. In contrast to bigger European conferences that attempt to cowl the whole blockchain spectrum, NFC retains digital artwork on the middle, with a distinctly art-forward focus that draws high creators and collectors from all over the world.
Final 12 months’s spotlight? Internet hosting Beeple’s dwell On a regular basis. It was pure chaos, the closest factor I’ve ever seen to a real-life feedback part. On the middle of the art work stood an enormous digital monolith which Beeple was inscribing in actual time with no matter memecoin ticker symbols the gang may throw at him. Degens clawed their strategy to the entrance, waving their telephones and barking ticker symbols — $PEPE, $MOG, $WHO-KNOWS-WHAT — prefer it was a sacred ritual. Everybody wished their shitcoin immortalized in pixels.
After a season of constructing, we’re again to mark a brand new chapter
Be part of us at NYC’s @Pier59Studios on June 26 for a particular showcase of digital artwork’s subsequent frontier: immersive works that blur the road between viewer and atmosphere
Offered with @Projekt_______
RSVP beneath ↓ pic.twitter.com/ooFzHIjyCD
— Now Media (@nowmedia) June 6, 2025
This 12 months, I used to be interviewed on the principle stage to introduce our forthcoming Now Media model reset and announce our “Sculpting Time” exhibition debuting throughout NFT NYC. I additionally moderated conversations with Seedphrase, Mad Canine Jones, Andrea Chiampo, and a panel on the way forward for PFPs with OSF (Rekt), Sergio Silva (Meebits), Tyler Guyot (Good Vibes Membership), and Vi Powils, the brand new CEO of World of Ladies.
It proved particularly well timed given the Moonbirds revival — simply days earlier, Orange Cap Video games introduced its acquisition of the undertaking from Yuga Labs. So we sat down with founder Spencer Gordon-Sand for an in-depth dialog on what comes subsequent.
Let’s dive in.
Can Moonbirds Make a Comeback?
This previous week, Orange Cap Video games introduced its acquisition of Moonbirds, the NFT undertaking initially launched by Kevin Rose’s Proof Collective. The transfer marked the most recent in a string of strategic IP divestitures by Yuga Labs, which had acquired Moonbirds final 12 months in an all-stock deal. With the Bored Ape creator narrowing its focus, Moonbirds has now discovered a brand new residence below the management of Spencer Gordon-Sand.
Gordon-Sand isn’t any stranger to the NFT ecosystem. By means of his agency Spencer Ventures, he’s been one of many house’s most lively individuals — buying and selling, investing, and offering liquidity throughout main initiatives. Extra just lately, he co-founded Orange Cap Video games, a crypto-native client model that launched Vibes, a Pudgy Penguins buying and selling card sport that helped OCG generate over $1.5 million in income. Now, he’s setting his sights on reviving Moonbirds as a standalone IP — beginning with what he calls a “exhausting reset.”
On this unique Q&A, Gordon-Sand joins me to interrupt down how the deal got here collectively, what a Moonbirds comeback seems to be like in a post-royalty world, and why NFTs nonetheless provide a extra significant sort of enjoyable than memecoins and metrics.
Matt Medved: How did this acquisition come collectively, and the way lengthy has it been within the works?
Spencer Gordon-Sand: I’ve recognized Garga for fairly some time. Enjoyable truth—he likes to play Magic: The Gathering. We related lots over that. One evening, he was at my home ripping Pokémon packs and ingesting whiskey till like 3 a.m. We’ve been discussing numerous issues within the trade. When he stepped again into the position at Yuga, it turned clear he wished to refocus what Yuga was. You’ve seen him go on this lengthy arc. At the moment, it wasn’t like, “Yeah, give me Moonbirds.” It was extra like, “What steps have to occur?” And one after the other, he’s been knocking them out — beginning with spinning out CryptoPunks, Meebits, all the things. Moonbirds was the one left. It simply needed to occur.
It occurred on the order of magnitude of months. All these offers progress like: first you conceptually float it, speak about it — then it turns into extra severe, and also you loosely agree — you then dig into the messy particulars. All the things about Moonbirds was not clear — that’s not the phrase I’d use to explain the world Moonbirds had been in once we grabbed them. There have been all types of questions: Will we simply tackle Moonbirds? Are Mythics and Oddities coming alongside? What does buying Moonbirds even imply? Socials? Contracts? There’s a complete philosophical exploration of what this transition means, plus the sensible and authorized layers.
Yuga beforehand acquired Moonbirds in an all-stock deal from Proof. What are you able to inform us in regards to the construction of this acquisition?
Proper now, we’re not sharing the main points of the acquisition past what we’ve launched in our announcement. One level that’s value concerning is L2 exclusivity. All it means is: if we’re going to do something with Moonbirds on an L2, it must be on ApeChain. That doesn’t imply we will’t do issues on different L1s — Ethereum, Solana, even TON. It additionally doesn’t imply we’re doing one thing on ApeChain, we haven’t introduced that. It’s only a sensible matter that is sensible. Yuga has an L2. They wouldn’t need IP they spun out going to a competitor. That’s truthful.
The undertaking’s been via lots. Kevin Rose is a polarizing determine. What position does its historical past play in its future?
It’s been very nonlinear. It’s been via lots. No matter what you consider any of the gamers, it’s a storied franchise. You can see it as broken items — however I don’t imagine that. The extra it’s been via, the extra the individuals who caught round matter. It’s like a trial by fireplace. The very fact there was nonetheless a neighborhood is unimaginable.
We’re approaching it like a clean slate. The historical past makes it culturally related. Cultural relevance usually comes from controversial moments, ups and downs, rebirth. We had been really extra excited to take it on as a result of it’s been via a lot. After we went into the Discord, individuals had been like, “Oh my God, you’re right here.” That was the bar. We tweeted from the account — individuals had been shocked. However those that caught round at the moment are our greatest advocates.
There’s lots the Proof workforce labored on that by no means shipped. Recordsdata and information of stuff. One hallmark of that workforce is that they labored on lots — it simply didn’t at all times ship. Mythics particularly are unimaginable. The artwork is top-tier. It’s clear somebody put $100 million value of effort and time into it. It is a exhausting reset — we’re not simply executing the prior workforce’s roadmap.
However we inherited helpful property: model guides, unreleased artwork, visible instructions. That’s uncommon. Most individuals beginning a model from scratch wouldn’t have this. So regardless that we’re beginning recent, we’ve bought a giant head begin.
“You can see it as broken items — however I don’t imagine that. The extra it’s been via, the extra the individuals who caught round matter.”
SPENCER GORDON-SAND
What does success appear to be for Moonbirds?
First, is the neighborhood glad and engaged? Do they really feel like we’re in a greater place? Second, can we develop Moonbirds? That’s a broad aim—relevance in crypto, exterior of crypto, and the way the model is greatest used. Proper now, our workforce in Asia is exploring manufacturing unit capabilities and product instructions. Our artwork workforce is exploring what we will make. We’re additionally fascinated by increasing Moonbirds’ attain. Traditionally, the model solely existed on Twitter. That should change. Crypto doesn’t simply dwell on Twitter anymore. The world doesn’t dwell there both. We’re taking a look at Giphy, Instagram, TikTok—there’s low-hanging fruit to develop the model globally and off Twitter.
How do you intend to construct a sustainable enterprise whereas creating worth holders?
The great factor is Orange Cap Video games already generates income. We launched in 2024 and dropped Vibes, the Pudgy Penguins buying and selling card sport, in December. Since then, we’ve finished about $1.5 million in income from bodily product gross sales. The primary rule in crypto? Survive. A whole lot of NFT initiatives simply ran out of cash. It’s worthwhile to preserve the lights on. We have now a workforce in Asia doing direct manufacturing. We don’t outsource. That offers us margin and suppleness. So we’ll do activations and product drops that preserve us going. Now, how does that relate to holders? First, it lets us keep alive. Second, our aim is to generate each mindshare and income. When you spend all the things on one, you lose the opposite. Ideally, your merchandise do each. That’s what Pudgy did nicely — bodily merchandise that construct model and generate money. That’s the intersection we’re aiming for.
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