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 one in every of my favourite occasions on the calendar. In contrast to bigger European conferences that attempt to cowl your complete blockchain spectrum, NFC retains digital artwork on the heart, with a distinctly art-forward focus that pulls prime creators and collectors from around the globe.
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 heart of the art work stood a large digital monolith which Beeple was inscribing in actual time with no matter memecoin ticker symbols the gang may throw at him. Degens clawed their option to the entrance, waving their telephones and barking ticker symbols — $PEPE, $MOG, $WHO-KNOWS-WHAT — prefer it was a sacred ritual. Everybody needed their shitcoin immortalized in pixels.
After a season of constructing, we’re again to mark a brand new chapter Be a 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 environmentPresented 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 venture 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 venture initially launched by Kevin Rose’s Proof Collective. The transfer marked the newest 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 underneath the management of Spencer Gordon-Sand.
Gordon-Sand isn’t any stranger to the NFT ecosystem. Via his agency Spencer Ventures, he’s been one of many area’s most lively members — buying and selling, investing, and offering liquidity throughout main tasks. Extra not too long ago, he co-founded Orange Cap Video games, a crypto-native shopper model that launched Vibes, a Pudgy Penguins buying and selling card recreation 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 appears like in a post-royalty world, and why NFTs nonetheless supply a extra significant form 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 reality—he likes to play Magic: The Gathering. We related quite a bit over that. One night time, 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 function at Yuga, it grew to become clear he needed 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, every thing. 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, discuss 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 after 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 an entire 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 referring to 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 honest.
The venture’s been via quite a bit. Kevin Rose is a polarizing determine. What function does its historical past play in its future?It’s been very nonlinear. It’s been via quite a bit. No matter what you consider any of the gamers, it’s a storied franchise. You might see it as broken items — however I don’t consider that. The extra it’s been via, the extra the individuals who caught round matter. It’s like a trial by hearth. The actual fact there was nonetheless a neighborhood is unbelievable.
We’re approaching it like a clean slate. The historical past makes it culturally related. Cultural relevance typically 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. Once 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 largest advocates.
There’s quite a bit the Proof workforce labored on that by no means shipped. Information and recordsdata of stuff. One hallmark of that workforce is that they labored on quite a bit — it simply didn’t all the time ship. Mythics particularly are unbelievable. The artwork is top-tier. It’s clear somebody put $100 million value of effort and time into it. This can be a exhausting reset — we’re not simply executing the prior workforce’s roadmap.
However we inherited invaluable belongings: model guides, unreleased artwork, visible instructions. That’s uncommon. Most individuals beginning a model from scratch wouldn’t have this. So though we’re beginning recent, we’ve obtained an enormous head begin.
“You might see it as broken items — however I don’t consider 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 completely happy 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 finest used. Proper now, our workforce in Asia is exploring manufacturing facility capabilities and product instructions. Our artwork workforce is exploring what we will make. We’re additionally excited about 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 Giphy, Instagram, TikTok—there’s low-hanging fruit to develop the model globally and off Twitter.
How do you propose to construct a sustainable enterprise whereas creating worth holders?
The nice factor is Orange Cap Video games already generates income. We launched in 2024 and dropped Vibes, the Pudgy Penguins buying and selling card recreation, in December. Since then, we’ve completed about $1.5 million in income from bodily product gross sales. The primary rule in crypto? Survive. A variety of NFT tasks simply ran out of cash. You’ll want to hold the lights on. We’ve a workforce in Asia doing direct manufacturing. We don’t outsource. That offers us margin and adaptability. So we’ll do activations and product drops that hold 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 every thing 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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