Following the recent acquisition of the Moonbirds NFT collection’s intellectual property (IP) by Yuga Labs, the maker of Bored Ape Yacht Club, alongside creator Proof, prices and trading volume for the collection experienced a significant surge on Friday afternoon. However, this surge has sparked speculation about potential insider trading activities leading up to the announcement.
Moonbirds price surge sparks insider trading rumors
Data from the blockchain analytics platform CryptoSlam reveals that the daily sales volume for Moonbirds NFTs had been relatively modest, hovering below the $100,000 mark for each day throughout February up to February 13th, with only one exception on February 4th, recording approximately $141,000 in sales volume.
However, on February 14th, the daily sales volume for Moonbirds spiked fivefold compared to the previous day, reaching around $460,000, accompanied by nearly four times as many transactions. The elevated sales volume persisted on February 15th, with approximately $333,000 worth of sales.
The announcement on Friday triggered a surge in sales, with the daily sales tally currently reaching approximately $3.1 million and continuing to rise. Analysis of the project’s price floor, which represents the price of the cheapest listed asset in the collection, also indicates a similar spike in the days leading up to the announcement.
On Monday afternoon, the price of Moonbirds stood at around $2,680 worth of Ethereum (ETH) according to data from NFT Price Floor. The price then began to climb, experiencing a sharp increase on Wednesday to reach $5,000. Although the price started to decrease thereafter, it surged again on Friday following the announcement, briefly surpassing $6,000 worth of ETH before settling around $5,170 at the time of this writing.
Community voice concerns over the allegations
While it is common for asset prices to rise following significant announcements such as the acquisition deal, the sharp increase in prices and trading volume before the announcement has raised concerns about potential insider trading. Various influencers, developers, and community members took to Crypto Twitter on Friday to highlight the suspicious nature of the price movements.
For instance, pseudonymous blockchain developer cygaar shared a sales/price chart for the week leading up to the announcement, emphasizing the unexplained spike in prices on Wednesday, and remarked sarcastically, “Moonbirds chart before the Yuga acquisition tweet. Nope, no insider trading here.”
Another well-known pseudonymous crypto trader and influencer, Cirrus, made a tongue-in-cheek reference to a wallet that had purchased over 150 NFTs from the Proof ecosystem in the days leading up to the announcement, jokingly suggesting it belonged to “Nancy Pelosi’s wallet.
This reference alludes to accusations against the U.S. Representative and former Speaker of the House for allegedly engaging in stock trading based on insider knowledge. Cirrus added, “Sitting on a couple hundred thousand in profit after the Yuga news.”
These observations and comments from industry participants underscore the suspicion surrounding the unusual price movements and trading activity preceding the announcement of the Moonbirds NFT collection’s acquisition. However, it’s important to note that at this stage, there is no definitive evidence of insider trading, and further investigation may be necessary to ascertain the true cause of the price surges.
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