A Complete Guide to the Proof Collective’s Exclusive Web3 World
We can’t deny it: the concept of identity — and questioning it — is and will remain among the most intriguing possibilities as blockchain technology continues its evolution through the financial and cultural landscape of modern society.
In keeping with the decentralized and open nature of Web3, anonymity (or pseudonymity) has created novel dynamics in the crypto and NFT space. For example, until February 2022, the identity of the founders of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, the most successful NFT project in existence, was a mystery.
But anonymity cuts both ways: it allows people to be active in the Web3 ecosystem while maintaining their right to privacy, but it also raises some serious issues of transparency and accountability when individuals or groups in the NFT community grow to a scale that dictates almost unrivaled. Cultural and financial impact.
The Proof Collective is one of those groups. And, as a subsidiary of the larger Proof brand that burst onto the NFT scene in early 2022, it has since become a Web3 powerhouse. But despite its size and influence, it is less well known than it should be. So, let’s unpack what this group is, where it came from, who its members are, and why it’s important to the larger NFT community.
Just what is Proof Collective?
Proof Collective is an exclusive members-only NFT community responsible for hugely successful projects like Moonbirds, Oddities, Grails, and Emotes. This collective consists of some of the most famous artists and collectors in the area, although most of them are anonymous.
The collective launched in December 2021 after co-founder Kevin Rose turned a subset of a tightly-focused community into an organization with a specific mission that grew around the PROOF podcast. That mission? To be the best eyes and ears on the ground in the NFT space, always be on the lookout for the next successful project of greatest interest to members.
Well, how do I join the elite- … I mean, proof collective?
We are not there yet. For any group to join, it’s a good idea to look into its history (and that’s the foundation of Internet history). Co-founder Rose was the creative mind behind Digg, the early 2000s social news-aggregation website that, before its demise, helped create many of the original ideas that became hallmarks of Web2 giants like Reddit, Facebook and Twitter. becomes He is a veteran of the Web2 world who has successfully translated his keen investment acumen and innovative strategies and talents to Web3.
With the help of co-founder and designer-illustrator Justin Mazel And the rest of the Proof team, Collective has become a Web3 player that no one can ignore. On April 16, 2022, Proof launched Moonbirds, a 10,000-PFP project, and the collective’s most popular project to date.
Moonbirds took the NFT world by storm, becoming one of the top 10 highest-grossing NFT projects of all time in less than a week of release. The project’s all-time sales volume has reached an astounding 166,681 ETH ($284,751,153.16, as of writing).
That project now includes Moonbirds Oddities, a 10,000-piece collection of Moonbirds Oddities designed by successful NFT artist Gremplin, which has sold for 15,219 ETH ($25,999,530.84, as of writing).
Well, now we will tell you how to join. To be part of the Proof Collective, you need a Proof Collective NFT, which the group initially released through a Dutch auction starting at 5 ETH per unit. But the price of the group has skyrocketed on the secondary market — for example, owning one will cost you 61 ETH (about $104,210), as of writing.
“We want to curate with a perspective.”
Kevin Rose is the co-founder of Proof Collective
That steep floor price comes with many perks, including early access to the Proof podcast, access to the collective Discord, free NFT drops, and access to private events. But the main attraction of the community is the shared knowledge, experience and discretion that its individuals bring to the group.
“We want to curate with a vision and really give people the in-depth information they need to make decisions about what to collect and which artists to pay attention to,” said Kevin Rose on the April episode of the NFT Now podcast. . “In the stock world, there are professional firms that do nothing but collect data and produce really in-depth research reports. We want this to be the case for NFT.”
In case you missed it, there is major value in joining the Proof Collective — being inside and knowing the high-level intelligence of the NFT ecosystem. The use-value should go without saying, but it’s not only great for finding fantastic art and innovative communities. This means maintaining a good position to invest in projects that pay big dividends.
Another name associated with significant notoriety is the group’s former COO, Ryan Carson, who left the brand less than two weeks after Moonbirds launched, to start his own NFT venture fund. Known as the 1.21GW Fund, Carson’s departure ruffled some feathers in the NFT community, with some coming close to calling it a rag tan. With insider knowledge of the project well-versed in NFTs, a rare feature in Moonbirds’ collection, Carson accumulated more than 200 ETH in Moonbird before his sudden departure.
Rose responded to criticism surrounding Carson’s move Tweet That he had an internal policy of “No Moonbirds can be purchased until the rarity count is made available to the public”, but didn’t stop anyone from “clicking a button to purchase”.
I had an internal policy of not buying any Moonbirds until the rarity numbers were released to the public. I can’t control someone clicking a button to make a purchase, but I can have strong control over all future drops. For example, no employee makes purchases for 7 days.
— KΞVIN R◎SE (
,
) (@kevinrose) April 25, 2022
Regardless, Rose thanked Carson for his contributions to the project and wished him well in his future endeavors.
Who else is in the proof collective?
The Proof Collective website boasts that its members own more than 150,000 NFTs, including about 150 CryptoPunks, over 800 Bored Apps, about 500 Mebits, over 5,000 Art Blocks, and about 330 SuperRare 1:1 NFTs. other
It is one of the most valuable and impressive NFT collections in the entire ecosystem. But it also begs the question, who is bringing these NFTs to the proof list? Most of the collective’s 1,000 members are anonymous. Looking at the blockchain, however, it’s possible to see that some major names are or were members of the NFT — and those people’s connections and relationships with the proof team raise another question: How much nepotism is involved?
For example, Proof Collective migrated a membership to NFT Beeple shortly after the launch of NFT Pass in December 2021. The group has transferred or “sold” membership passes to certain other significant and connected individuals.
Visual artist Justin Aversano, who goes by the pseudonym Web3 Twin Flame, earned his pass for 0.001 ETH. Aversano is the co-founder and CEO of Quantum Art, a platform that curates and sells NFTs. In February 2022, Quantum Art raised $7.5 million in a funding round from True Ventures, a venture capital firm with Kevin Rose on its board. Gary V is a Quantum Art investor and another recipient of the Free Proof Collective NFT Membership Pass (as is his brother). A number of anonymous wallet addresses collectively gifted several more passes in this manner.
But the point is, there’s no Web3 rulebook that says this kind of back-scratching is off limits, and anyone looking to criticize evidence for doing so should think carefully about whether they’d act differently in the same situation. It’s also true that these incidents don’t help diminish big money’s reputation for nepotism and group-out-group dynamics in the NFT ecosystem.
Perhaps not everything in Web3 should align with the norm of equity and a (more) level playing field. Yet, such behavior inhabits a space uncomfortably close to Web2’s centralized bias. But to be fair, Proof Brand has recently started to launch efforts to make its community more diverse and inclusive, gifting 400 Oddis NFTs to seven communities dedicated to onboarding marginalized populations to Web3. It’s not clear that such gestures and intentions will translate into measurably more inclusion in the proof collective itself, but it’s a good step in the right direction.
Outside of the conglomerate, Proof Brand’s next big goalpost is a metaverse project called Highrise. Rose largely glossed over the details when describing Highrise, but he expressed overall disappointment with other approaches to Metaverse projects. “For us, [the metaverse] Means is a way to connect with the community that’s different and unique and more immersive than what’s happening on Discord,” Rose explained in an April 2022 episode of the Proof podcast.
Highrise, Rose points out, is a placeholder name. Still, it’s a proof chosen purposefully, because it speaks to their vision for Metaverse, namely, to provide users with different “buildings” and “floors” of purpose-driven interactions that rise above what’s currently on offer.
“I was really disappointed when I saw their Facebook presentation for Metaverse and they showed two people in VR sitting next to each other playing chess,” Rose continued. “If I had any Facebook stock, which I don’t have, I would have sold it immediately. Chess? I was doing that on AOL. It showed a lack of imagination, and I kind of just thought, ‘We can do better than that.’
Given that Proof has done so much in so little time — in a bear market, Brand and Proof will continue to be a driving force in the collective NFT community. Rose and his team have shown a willingness to be flexible when Web3 senses change in the air, as they announced that they are switching the Moonbirds collection to the CC0 license. The move wasn’t without its own controversy, but a few things are in place. How evidence determines future Web3 innovation, regardless of its flaws, will be anything but mundane.
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