The NFT-focused company was founded by early-stage Facebook and Twitter investor Kevin Rose, and designer Justin Mezzell in February 2022. The company also has the Proof Collective and Oddities NFT collections in its catalog.
Announcing the move via Twitter on January 6, Rose suggested that the goal of the deal was to make the Moonbirds brand known on a “global” mainstream scale, rather than just being recognized as a big hitter in the Web3 space.
“What does UTA bring to the table? They are 1,400 people strong, with divisions in film, television, music, video games, sports, books, branding and licensing, speaking, marketing, fine arts, broadcasting, and more.
PROOF, the company behind the top-tier NFT Moonbirds project, has signed a representation deal with major Hollywood talent agency United Talent Agency (UTA).
🙂
— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) January 6, 2023
Explaining the move in advance, Rose noted that UTA will work with PROOF to help “veterinarians, brokers, and execute partnerships and expansion opportunities in various fields.”
The Ethereum-based Moonbirds project launches in April 2022 and includes 10,000 8-bit owl-themed avatar NFTs. To date, it has generated approximately $619.5 million in secondary sales according to data from CryptoSlam.
That figure makes Moonbirds the eleventh best-selling collectible in the NFT market, with the closest competitors being Doodles in twelfth at $553 million and CloneX in tenth at $794.9 million.
Despite UTA’s supposedly bullish announcement, Moonbirds’ 24-hour sales volume dropped 57.86%, with $442,747 of Moonbirds NFTs changing hands during the period. But during the seven-day period, trading volume was still up 63.74%.
The move from Moonbirds follows other big names in the NFT space looking for Hollywood deals.
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CryptoPunks founder Larva Labs was the first to make its way back in September 2021, signing a deal with UTA to represent the company’s IP in TV, film, video game, licensing and publishing.
The following month Yuga Labs – which now owns CryptoPunks – followed suit by signing with UTA to push the Bored Ape Yacht Club IP into film, TV, music and games. While the most recent incident before PROOF was a deal between UTA competitor WME and NFT Boss Beauties startup.