MoonCats are an original NFT which launched in 2017. The project was a pioneer
MoonCatRescue was developed and released in 2017 by a pair of Ethereum enthusiasts who wanted to explore the possibilities of the early Ethereum network. The project used an on-chain, proof-of-work mining system to allow people to "locate" and "rescue" MoonCats. Of the billions of possibilities, the community decided which Cats would be rescued.
Though MoonCats gained a small and passionate following, interest waned.
Thanks to the efforts of crypto-archeologists like 0xAllen, Adam McNFT, ETHoard, & JUSTIN, MoonCats were rediscovered on March 12, 2021. In a bout of MoonCat mania, all of the remaining MoonCats were rescued in just a few hours. On that day - from the grassroots - the MoonCatCommunity was born!
As soon as ponderware learned of the rediscovery, the team got to work re-establishing communication with the MoonBase.
The project continues to develop, and the community continues to grow. The #AgeOfMoonCats is upon us.
There are a total of 25,440 MoonCats.
25,344 are Rescue Cats, selected by users during the minting process, and 96 are Genesis Cats (Black or White MoonCats). 256 Genesis Cats were planned for release, but the remaining 160 were permanently locked as dictated by the outcome of the Genesis Vote in March, 2021.
We will never mint any additional MoonCats.
For many NFT collections, the ratio of how many items in the collection have specific traits is set in place by the designing team when the collection launches, and therefore the designers of the collection pick which traits are more scarce, and typically make those scarce traits more appealing, and that influences the value of those assets.
The MoonCat collection is unlike that. Instead, for most of a MoonCat's traits (color, expression, pose, and fur pattern) were chosen/determined by the Ethereum user who rescued them (triggered the minting transaction). Only after all the MoonCats were rescued was it possible to tell what proportion of the collection has which trait. Other NFT collections have developed algorithms for "trait ranking" and "stat ranking" items that can technically be applied to the MoonCat collection, however the market has shown that doesn't automatically lead to those MoonCats being more highly-valued.
The one key trait that was baked into the MoonCat collection from the beginning was having some of the MoonCats be Genesis MoonCats. While Rescue MoonCats come in every color of the rainbow, Genesis MoonCats stand out as different because they are black- or white-colored. There are only 96 Genesis MoonCats, and those are generally viewed by the market as more highly-valued than any of the rest of the MoonCats in the collection.
Among the Rescue MoonCats, the community has placed an emphasis on MoonCats that have a notable history (ones that were rescued earlier in the project's lifespan). In general, finding a MoonCat you find attractive is the key thing. Much of the tooling for the MoonCatRescue project empowers owners to make a mark on the blockchain through their MoonCat after they're an owner; from being able to give the MoonCat a permanent name, to unlocking accessories to dress that MoonCat up, to creating derivatives or other commercial uses for their MoonCat.
MoonCats were developed prior to the implementation of the ERC-721 standard (the current Ethereum standard for non-fungible tokens (NFTs)). The original collection contract used a customized version of the ERC-20 standard, modified to enumerate each MoonCat in the collection.
Because MoonCats don't adhere to the ERC-721 standard that modern wallet software expects, The Acclimator was created, which gives MoonCats full ERC-721 and ERC-998 functionality. The “Acclimation” process can be reversed; however, owning an Acclimated MoonCat allows you to take full advantage of the MoonCat ecosystem.
Accessories are an additional feature of MoonCats that their owners can use to customize their MoonCat for display. MoonCat accessories are entirely on-chain collectibles that when purchased become owned by the MoonCat themselves (stay with the MoonCat even if the MoonCat changes ownership). With the Accessory Designer , anyone can create an accessory, specify its scarcity and price, and sell it in the Accessory Boutique. Accessories stay with the MoonCat forever, but can be put on or taken off at any time.
Anyone can design an accessory and launch it on the Boutique site for sale to the broader community. Some accessories the designer creates to be limited-runs, or exclusive to specific groups, or one-of-a-kind, or open to everyone. The vast majority of accessories are purely cosmetic, and can be enjoyed for their artistic effect, and having your MoonCat's visual style reflect its owner's personality. A few others represent achievements or crossover integrations with other projects (check with the accessory's designer to determine what MoonCats with that accessory represent).
The ponderware team and MoonCatRescue team have created several accessories that do mark specific importance in the community. They represent the MoonCat being a part of a specific moment in the MoonCatRescue project lifespan, but whether that makes the MoonCat more valuable as a collectible is in the eye of the beholder.
| "Ponderware Visor" This accessory is given out to staff members of ponderware. Any MoonCat that has this accessory had an owner who was an employee of ponderware. | |
| "Early Acclimator Helmet" The Accessory Boutique launched as one of the first features after the official Acclimator wrapping contract was created. This accessory was granted to all MoonCats that used the Acclimator before the launch of the Boutique (the ones who were ready to buy from the Boutique the day it launched.) | |
| "Ponderware Gem" This accessory is given as a gift from the ponderware team to those who have contributed significantly to the project. Notably, several community members who assisted in the launch of the Accessories Boutique by creating designs to be ready on the day of launch are recipients of this accessory. | |
| "Ponderware Logo" An accessory paying homage to ponderware's original logo. This accessory has been granted to MoonCats for special events. | |
| "Community Rockstar" Granted by the MoonCatRescue team to community members who have made significant contributions to the project. |
lootprints are blueprints for MoonCat spacecraft. You must own at least one MoonCat and one lootprint to play GravBall, the upcoming MoonCat game!
MoonCats are 100% on-chain. Your family of Cats, however big or small, have found their permanent home on the Ethereum blockchain, through a combination of the original MoonCatRescue smart contract, and additional deployed contracts that give extra metadata about the MoonCats.
MoonCats - at the time of mint - were generated on-chain. Meaning, the parameters for what made your cat unique were stored on-chain. The "recipe" ("DNA") for your MoonCats' image generation was on-chain, but the image itself was not.
As of January 13, 2022, that changed.
Our team of magicians... I mean developers... deployed a series of smart contracts to the Ethereum blockchain. Those contracts include all the data required to generate the image of your MoonCats. You can ask the MoonCat contract to produce the image for you, straight from the chain.
For a much deeper technical dive, this blog post is a good writeup.
Accessories from the Boutique have always been completely on-chain. You can produce MoonCat images from the Ethereum blockchain with, and without, your accessories.
Sound like fun? If you're not a MoonCat owner yourself, perhaps you'd like to explore adopting one for yourself? If you're already an owner, enjoy playing with you loveable pet, or exploring ways to build new tooling within the ecosystem.