Moonbirds unveils BIRB tokenomics: How 65% community allocation is reshaping the NFT ecosystem

The early morning crypto market brings new pulses, with Bitcoin stabilizing at $89,276 and Ethereum rising to $3,010.55. In this relatively stable market environment, the Moonbirds project, which once sparked the NFT boom, announced its complete economic model for the BIRB token on January 28, 2026. The total token supply is locked at 1 billion, with the most notable design being that up to 65% of the tokens will be allocated to the community, a figure far higher than many similar projects.

Project Background and Strategic Transformation

The journey of the Moonbirds IP began in April 2022 when PROOF Collective launched this NFT series composed of 10,000 pixel-style owl avatars. The project quickly gained attention, and its unique “nesting” mechanism and active community culture made it a star in the NFT space.

On May 30, 2025, Yuga Labs sold the intellectual property rights of Moonbirds and its derivative series Mythics and Oddities to Orange Cap Games, a company focused on Web3 gaming. This transaction marked a new phase of development for Moonbirds, shifting the project’s focus from Ethereum to the Solana blockchain. This transformation is not just a technical migration but also signifies Moonbirds’ shift from purely digital collectibles to a comprehensive consumer brand ecosystem.

In-Depth Analysis of the BIRB Token Economic Model

The total supply of BIRB tokens is fixed at 1 billion, employing a multi-tiered distribution mechanism aimed at balancing community incentives, project development, and market liquidity.

Community allocation dominates, accounting for 65% of the total. This portion is further subdivided into: holder rewards 27%, ecosystem partnership expansion 12%, value chain incentives 10%, and liquidity 8%.

The team and investors together account for 35%, including 10% for the team and 25% for investors and advisors. Compared to community allocation, these tokens are usually subject to lock-up periods to balance early support with long-term stability.

At the initial circulation of tokens, during the Token Generation Event (TGE), 285 million tokens will enter the market, representing 28.5% of the total supply. This includes the full 17% of the Birb & Friends reward pool and 8% from the liquidity pool.

The token economic model reflects the “early participant advantage” and “decaying emission structure,” with early ecosystem contributors receiving higher reward weights, while team and investor allocations are designed with long-term market stability in mind.

Nesting 2.0: Connecting NFT Holders with the Token Ecosystem

Alongside the release of the BIRB token economic model, the Nesting 2.0 mechanism was also introduced. This serves as a key bridge connecting existing NFT holders with the new token ecosystem. Under this mechanism, Moonbirds, Mythics, and Oddities NFT holders can deposit their NFTs into the Nesting protocol to obtain a soul-bound birb NFT. This design ensures that during the “hatching” period, the original NFTs are not stranded on the market, maintaining NFT asset liquidity.

Starting from February 28, 2026, over the next 24 months, each nested NFT can claim its allocated share monthly at a rate of 1/24. If only part of the nesting period has elapsed before the monthly claim date, users will receive a proportional share. Notably, all NFTs that hatch within the first 7 days will be considered as having hatched for a full month. This design encourages early participants to quickly join the new ecosystem.

Market Outlook and Valuation Analysis

Before the official launch of the BIRB token, market discussions about its valuation have already begun. A Bitget research report provides three possible fully diluted valuation (FDV) scenarios:

In a conservative scenario, BIRB’s FDV might range between $150 million and $200 million, based on valuations of similar projects like Doodles, and considering Moonbirds’ stronger brand recognition and Solana ecosystem integration.

The baseline scenario predicts an FDV between $200 million and $300 million, based on pre-market prices of $0.23 to $0.30 per token and a total supply of 1 billion.

In an optimistic scenario, if ecosystem partnerships are rapidly implemented post-TGE and AI-driven IP expansion gains broad recognition, valuation could exceed $350 million.

Currently, the floor price of the Moonbirds NFT series is about 2.5 ETH, with over 5,000 holder addresses and approximately 249,000 Twitter followers. These data points provide a reference for the project’s community base.

How to Trade on Gate and Risk Management

Choosing a trusted trading platform is crucial. Trading BIRB on platforms like Gate allows users to benefit from mature trading systems, liquidity support, and security measures. Buying BIRB on Gate’s spot market is the most straightforward method, suitable for most users. For traders looking to leverage market volatility, products like margin trading and perpetual contracts are also options.

For BIRB token holders, understanding the token release schedule is especially important. Besides the 28.5% tokens released at TGE, tokens allocated for reserves, ecosystem partnerships, and community development will be gradually released afterward. The tokens allocated to investors and the team (35% of total supply) will have a 12-month lock-up period post-TGE, followed by linear release over 24 months. This means that long-term market supply pressure will be closely tied to actual business growth.

The Moonbirds team plans to launch a zero-sum game based on the BIRB token, which will be open as part of the claiming process at TGE, aiming to redistribute unclaimed tokens from the community pool back to the community.

As the BIRB token is officially launched on Solana, several valuation models are circulating. Some analysts believe its fully diluted valuation could reach between $150 million and $300 million, but this heavily depends on the overall NFT market recovery, the actual execution of ecosystem partnerships, and the broader cryptocurrency market environment. Meanwhile, the Nesting 2.0 mechanism has already begun operating, with pixel owl NFT holders depositing their assets into the protocol, expecting to claim their BIRB tokens monthly over the next 24 months.

When the first rays of morning sunlight illuminate the trading platform’s candlestick charts, traders focusing on BIRB on Gate have already started analyzing this distribution structure—27% to holders, 12% to ecosystem partners, 10% to value chain contributors, 8% to ensure liquidity. Behind every trade is not only a game of token price movements but also a vote for a new community economic model.