Moonbirds COO leaves to launch own project

The Chief Operating Officer of PROOF Collective has called it quits with the company. Here are the details of his controversial exit.

What Happened With Ryan Carson?

Ryan Carson shocked the NFT community on April 25th when he announced that he’s quitting PROOF Collective, an NFT company currently making the rounds in the crypto space. His declaration comes just a few days after the company sold out its Moonbirds NFT collection. After learning of the development, many were left with questions and speculations about foul play.

Before Carson’s announcement, the Moonbird project has enjoyed quite a meteoric rise to become the collection with the fastest sell-out time in the history of NFTs. The project has since become a hot topic in the NFT space, with various discussions revolving around how the Moonbirds floor price cleared 20 ETH in two days. Furthermore, the project also got an all-time high floor price valuation of 39.39 ETH as recorded by coin gecko. 

Needless to say, the sudden exit of a core member of the team responsible for such a successful project will raise eyebrows. Ryan Carson was a key part of the process and was instrumental to the venture’s success. Plus, he had a close personal relationship with Kevin Rose, the project’s founder.

So, why did the chief operating officer quit when the company is enjoying a positive phase? 

Speculations of Dubious Dealings by the former COO

Carson’s announcement elicited a stream of negative reactions from a significant section of the NFT community. It was confirmed that he had acquired over $1 million worth of Moonbird collectibles before moving on from the company. 

The general opinion was that Carson used inside knowledge to poach undervalued editions of the collectibles and ran with them. There are also claims that he’s looking to develop his NFT venture fund off the back of his portfolio. 

In his response to the outrage in the Moonbird community, the founder of PROOF collective, Kevin Rose, stated that Ryan Carson went against the internal policy in his acquisition of the NFTs.

He disclosed that there was an internal policy to prevent insiders from purchasing Moonbird NFTs before rarity counts became public. He also further stated during a space event that he had “no idea” how much Carson had planned to invest in the NFTs following the project’s release. 

PROOF Collective: Moving Forward

Kevin Rose announced following Carson’s exit that he waved Carson’s Vesting Cliff signaling the end of all dealings between the two parties. Regardless, the departure of one of its core developers doesn’t seem to hurt the Moonbird project. 

The project currently has a floor price of 34 ETH and has done above $330 million in sales since its inception. Furthermore, Moonbirds announced it had raised $10 million in a recent funding round. While the fundraising may not have been necessary considering how well the project is doing, it served to draw some attention away from Ryan Carson’s actions.