• Kevin Rose has confirmed that the 2023 PROOF of Conference will no longer take place.
• Moonbirds NFT holders are selling their digital assets in light of the event.
• The price of the Moonbirds NFT collection has plummeted in the last 24 hours.

A flock of Moonbirds NFT holders and community members have been upset that the anticipated PROOF of Conference 2023 has been canceled.

On February 20th, 2023, PROOF Collective disclosed that the reasoning behind the PROOF of Conference cancellation was due to “considerably less interest than anticipated for.”

Kevin “KRO” Rose and PROOF Collective have apologized to the community for the disappointment and inconvenience stemming from the controversial cancellation of the NFT conference. The PROOF of Conference creators have further vowed to refund affected community members with Ethereum (ETH) reimbursements for tickets, upgrades, and related transactions.

In light of the event, the floor price of Moonbirds has decreased 9.6% to 6.656 ETH in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinGecko. The collection has fallen from the #2 to the #5 rank by 24-hour trading volume. The market capitalization for the collection has recorded a similar decrease of 9.6% to $108M, leaving the collection with -02% of the total NFT owners.

24-Hour chart for Moonbirds. Source: CoinGecko

The cancellation of the event and the nature of the announcement have sparked FUD amidst the Moonbirds NFT holders and members, who are expressing a spectrum of reactions and commentary.

Some Feathers are Ruffled

Moonbirds was launched in 2022 by Kevin Rose’s PROOF Collective to build connections between NFT collectors, and the PROOF of Conference was set to be a flagship event for the community. 

According to a statement by PROOF Collective, the Web 3.0 celebration of art, culture, community, and technology was a “major lift” for the community. In its absence, the creators have shared they will be able to “concentrate on delivering products, art, and connections that benefit all of the Moonbirds and PROOF Collective communities.”

Appearing displeased, one holder reportedly sold 16 Moonbirds NFTs for a loss of 596 ETH (approximately $978,778) on February 21st, according to CirrusNFT.

NFT holder DancingEddie called the occurrence “absurd,” questioning the long-term viability of the project when the “crux piece” has been canceled.

Other community members are displaying various reactions on Crypto Twitter, considering the hefty price tag of 1.5 ETH (approximately $2, 452 USD at the time of writing) for a ticket to PROOF of Conference. Some members believe this was asking a lot from the community, especially in the current market.

Although there is a degree of understanding displayed by some commenters, the “sugary sweet positivity” is referred to as “Stockholm Syndrome” by Twitter user Astronaught.eth, considering the cancellation of the event.

Tr0m chimed in as a self-proclaimed “expert in events and throwing them,” opining that a mass amount of ticket sales would possibly have been purchased at the last minute or on the day of the event. The comment could aim to discredit the creators’ main reason for canceling the event despite the inconvenience to the community.

To appease the backlash, the conference creators have stated that they will host a “holistic PROOF and Moonbirds update” on all active initiatives on March 2nd, assuring the community that the occurrence does not mark the permanent cancellation of the events.

On the Flipside

• Community members are prompting the possibility of a virtual or informal event instead of the PROOF conference to utilize travel plans and expenses. 
• The NFT market on Ethereum has recorded a notable increase in sales in February and is poised to recover from the 2022 bear market lows as mainstream adoption increases into 2023.

Why You Should Care

Moonbirds is a high-volume NFT collection and thus a significant player in the broader ecosystem. The increased negative sentiment from the Moonbirds community could infect a similar FUD in the broader NFT market.

Read more about Kevin Rose’s NFT scam that cost him a pretty penny:
Kevin Rose in Phishing Scam that Claims $1.1M in NFTs

Read more about Moonbirds’ glory days:
10,000 Pixelated Owl NFT Collection ‘MoonBirds’ Generates over $200M in Just Four Days

• Charles Hoskinson is defending his work in the industry following continued criticism.
• The Cardano community remains divided in debates and commentary.
• The price of ADA is hovering around $0.39 despite climbing a rank by market capitalization.

Charles Hoskinson is refuting commentary about the Cardano (ADA) network and his representation thereof following ongoing backlash about his comments on contingent staking.

An ongoing conversation about contingent staking on the Cardano network continued with a tweet by a prominent community member on February 20th, 2023. Cardano Whale shared that the “drama” around contingent staking had left them “disenfranchised.”

In response, Twitter user Barren Wuffet praised Cardano Whale, calling them an asset and a preferred representative for the Cardano community over Charles Hoskinson, who was lambasted as a “liability.”

Cardano and IOG founder Charles Hoskinson has retorted the critique and resurrected the cult commentary in the same breath. Hoskinson referred to contingent staking as an “optional hypothetical feature,” calling out the commentary as “discounting the last seven years” of his work in the industry.

Cardano has notably climbed the ranks from the #8 position to the #7 position by market capitalization, recording a $13.9B total market value of circulating ADA on February 21st, 2023. 

The price of ADA is hovering in the vicinity of $0.39 USD at the time of writing despite the myriad of ongoing debates, most notably including the topics of Cardano staking.

Cardano for the Masses?

During his most recent video in a discussion of the Voltaire phase, Hoskinson has compared the impact of Cardano on humanity to that of ChatGPT, the iPhone, and the internet.

Despite the optimism from the founder, increased whale activity, and network developments, the Cardano community remains distracted, as reciprocated in the thread by Cardano Whale and the price of ADA.

In the community’s defense, $psilobyte PSB SSPO has remarked that there will be “a lot more lessons to come” as Cardano progresses through the Voltaire phase but expressed their confidence that the Cardano community is “capable.”

The fact that Cardano has climbed a rank by market capitalization, among other notable developments, questions the rationale behind Barren Wuffet’s criticism against Hoskinson in favor of Cardano Whale as the leading representative for the ecosystem.

On the Flipside

• The Cardano community appears to be maintaining a reputation of division.
• Cardano Whale expressed that they would accept contingent staking if voted in through Voltaire.
• The viability of Cardano “for the masses” will depend on the widespread adoption of the network.

Why You Should Care

The Cardano ecosystem plays a notable role in the future of cryptocurrencies and decentralization. The network’s current #7 rank by market capitalization hints at the efficacy of Cardano’s methodology in the long term.

Cardano is branching out with Working Groups for developers, read more:

Cardano (ADA) Dev Working Groups to ‘Empower’ the Community

Read more about Cardano’s recent SECP upgrade:

Cardano (ADA) Launches SECP Upgrade: A Cross-Chain Love Story?

• Solana has confirmed that Helium will be migrating to the Solana blockchain.
• The migration will enable Helium to focus more on building its wireless network.
• The price of SOL has increased notably in response to favorable sentiment following recent developments.

The upcoming Helium migration and increased NFT sales volumes appear to be fueling a notable retrace for Solana (SOL).

On February 20th, 2023, the official Solana Twitter account confirmed that the Helium network would migrate from its current Layer-1 network to the Solana blockchain.

The Helium Network has revealed that the official migration will occur on March 27th and is referring to the event as “the most significant upgrade to Helium Network scalability and reliability” in combination with the deployment of Oracles.

Recent developments have fostered positive sentiment in the Solana community, boosting the network’s market capitalization beyond $10B for the first time this year.

Market cap for Solana. Source: CoinMarketCap

Following increased NFT sales volumes and Helium anticipation, the price of Solana has shot up 30%, with SOL trading at $26.33 at the time of writing.

Migrating to the Solana blockchain will allow Helium to shift its focus from sustaining its blockchain to expanding its network of hotspots and building wireless protocols, according to a blog post by the Helium Foundation.

Solana as a Saving Grace?

Helium, a decentralized network of IoT devices called “hotspots,” has faced criticism concerning scalability and economics. The Solana migration could address these challenges, as the platform can handle many transactions per second.

Solana’s ecosystem of developers, applications, and integrations will provide Helium with the speed and scalability necessary to become a “network of networks,” potentially unlocking new possibilities and use cases for the Internet of Things (IoT) industry. 

The migration will also benefit token holders as HNT will become natively compatible with other platforms within the Solana ecosystem, adding utility for HNT, MOBILE, and IOT token holders. Furthermore, the migration is set to bring nearly one million hotspots across the LoRa and 5G networks. 

The price of Helium (HNT) is reflecting optimism from the community, trading at $3.10 at the time of writing, which records an increase of 27.55% in the past seven days.

On the Flipside

• Speculation has surfaced around the idea that Helium will be used to power the much-anticipated Solana Mobile, which is pending release in early 2023.
• Helium hotspots have been growing at a slower pace in the past months.

Why You Should Care

The successful migration of the Helium network to the Solana blockchain would represent a unification of Web 3.0 utility. The migration could propel the progress of both networks and potentially the adoption of Web 3.0 technologies in the mainstream.

Read more about Solana’s NFT sales volume spike:

Solana Stakes 14% Claim to NFT Market in Ecosystem Boost

Read more about the recent partnership between Solana and Def Jam:

Def Jam Brings Whales to Solana (SOL) with NFT Band

• Developer numbers on the Cardano network have been soaring.
• IOG is inviting more developers to join working groups to further development on Cardano.
• The Working Groups are divided according to specific topics of discussion and expertise.

Developer numbers on the Cardano network have been soaring since the beginning of February 2023.

Input Output Global (IOG), the blockchain technology firm responsible for the development of Cardano (ADA), has invited more community members to join several developer Working Groups to catapult the ecosystem.

• In early February, Louis Vuitton announced a collection with Yayoi Kusama.
• Several Web 3.0 news outlets shared speculative claims from an unverified NFT collection.
• The unverified NFT collection has been removed for copyright infringement.

Unverified claims about a Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama NFT drop were rampant in early February 2023.

After the international fashion house Louis Vuitton released a collaborative collection with Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama, an NFT collection surfaced on OpenSea with the same title.

Despite the fact that the listed NFTs and the collection’s description appeared somewhat legitimate, the collection was unverified by OpenSea. Nevertheless, many Web 3.0 news outlets distributed the information from the unverified collection, claiming that 10, 000 NFTs would be released and Louis Vuitton would allow customers to exchange the digital assets for tangible copies.

The unverified Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama NFT collection has since been removed from OpenSea based on a claim of intellectual property infringement, according to the notice prompted by OpenSea.

Source: OpenSea

Since the collection can no longer be accessed, it is unclear what the floor price, total volume, best offer, and total owner volume were before the collection was removed by OpenSea.

However, soon after the collection surfaced in early February, OpenSea recorded two NFT owners, revealing that there had been buyers who invested in the collection before the copyright infringement of the NFTs were exposed.

A Spot of Speculation

Hadrien Huet, the Head of Online Brand protection at Louis Vuitton, reportedly debunked the false claims about the NFT collection and its connection with physical products.

Huet apparently stated that Louis Vuitton had acknowledged forged NFT collections on OpenSea, adding that “ill-intentioned third parties” were “attempting to take advantage” of the rampant speculation.

The incident serves as a reminder for NFT buyers to conduct independent research and verification from primary sources to elude scams related to digital assets.

On the Flipside

• A number of speculative articles about the NFT collection have been corrected, but the implications of the unverified reports remain unclear.
• Web 3.0 personalities have criticized the news industry for shortcomings in ethical journalism before.

Why You Should Care

Unverified reporting can result in financial implications for the reader, undermining the credibility of the industry and eroding trust in Web 3.0 developments, potentially hindering its adoption. 

DailyCoin prioritizes and values journalistic principles in the interest of our readers.

Read more about the physical Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama collection:
Louis Vuitton Gets Kusama-fied – 10K NFTs Celebrating 200 Years

Read more about misleading NFT collections concerning luxury brand Hermès:
Hermès vs. MetaBirkins Verdict Announced, the Design House Wins

• Magic Eden has dismissed 22 team members.
• The CEO stated that aligning the team with the company’s goals was necessary.
• The NFT marketplace is providing support for the affected employees.

Magic Eden is streamlining their operations to remain competitive in the current NFT landscape.

On February 14th, 2023, the leading NFT marketplace shared a blog wherein CEO and co-founder Jack Lu announced a “company-wide restructuring” and associated employee layoffs. 

Lu later shared a thread in which he expressed his empathy for the affected individuals, assuring the community that the layoffs had occurred prior to the news going public in the interest of those impacted.

The CEO revealed that it was a “difficult and painful decision” to part ways with the 22 teammates. The decision was illuminated during an assessment of the companies’ strategic goals, considering the expertise required to propel the ecosystem in the desired direction. 

Aligning with the Vision

Magic Eden has reportedly evolved to a state where changes needed to be implemented in the team to align with their vision for 2023.

The marketplace’s goals moving forward will be centered around “growing traction across chains, developing services for NFT creators, and exploring new use cases like rewards and social experiences.”

Lu has stated that the strategic goals for the marketplace will require team members who must encompass a certain skill set and expertise to drive the evolution of Magic Eden “without losing momentum.”

Magic Eden will be providing alternative means of support for the ex-staff members this week, before moving into a “reset” period to move the ecosystem forward.

On the Flipside

• Magic Eden recorded a trading volume of $85M USD in January 2023, representing 9.7% of the market, according to DappRadar. 
• NFT marketplace SuperRare reduced its staff by 30% in January 2023.
• OpenSea terminated approximately 20% of its employment in July 2022.

Why You Should Care

Magic Eden is celebrated as the most significant NFT marketplace on the Solana blockchain. The marketplace’s recent employee notice is part of a series of layoffs across the crypto ecosystem since the dawn of the notorious crypto winter of 2022.

Read more about Magic Eden’s loyalty program:
Magic Eden NFT Marketplace Rolls Out Loyalty Program, Native Token in Talks

Find out more about when the Magic Eden community went bonkers for BONK:
BONK-Themed NFT Collection on Magic Eden Sells Out in Hours