The founding father of the Azuki non-fungible token (NFT) venture, Zagabond, has revealed that he was behind three unsuccessful NFT initiatives earlier than creating Azuki.
In a weblog submit titled “A Builders Journey,” he identified that the teachings he discovered from the three initiatives helped him construct Azuki into what it’s immediately.
CryptoPhunks, Tendies and CryptoZunk
The primary venture Zagabond created was CryptoPhunks, which parodied CryptoPunk.
Whereas his intention for constructing CyptoPhunks was to have a “venture which challenged the group to consider web3 copyright guidelines,” amongst different causes, not everybody noticed it that manner.
Larva Labs filed a DMCA takedown claiming this was copyright infringement, resulting in the gathering being delisted and relisted a number of instances on OpenSea. He finally handed the venture over to the group in July 2021.
The following NFT venture he created was Tendies. Sadly, the venture did not generate sufficient curiosity, with solely 15% of it minting, resulting in the group shutting down the venture.
In Zagabond’s opinion, this venture taught him a priceless lesson. It confirmed that
Though memes have been highly effective, they might solely take us to date… a venture wanted actual substance to create a long-lasting group.
The following venture was CryptoZunk which centered on creating an NFT venture with a singular minting expertise. He said that the failure of this venture was all the way down to the excessive fuel charges on Ethereum, making it very costly to mint.
Like the primary two initiatives, this failed one was additionally a lesson. Zagabond stated these three initiatives taught him that “blindly following the NFT meta doesn’t get you far.” He claims that every one the teachings from these initiatives are actually being utilized to make Azuki a hit.
Crypto group response
The response to the submit has been numerous. On one aspect are Zachxbt and others who consider that this assertion is the equal of an admission of rug pulling three NFT initiatives.
The blockchain sleuth alleged that the three initiatives have been rug pulls as a result of the founders profited from them and subsequently deserted them.
Translation: so there’s three initiatives you rugged prior to now yr
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) May 9, 2022
Others who supported Zachxbt’s view identified varied situations that show these have been rug pulls. There are additionally allegations of Zunk devs pretending to be girls in order that they might promote the venture.
There was NO handoff when the Phunk devs left
Tendies rugged mid reveal
Zunks larped as girls and have been dishonest in regards to the connection to Phunks (blocking us for asking questions)
In case you do not assume @ZAGABOND is a rip-off artist, you both maintain Azuki otherwise you’re a scammer your self.
— Chopper (@chopper__dad) May 9, 2022
Nonetheless, some disagree with this line of thought and argue that not each failed NFT venture quantities to a rug pull. A person said that rug pull solely occurs when the founder didn’t intend to develop the venture.
No, a rug is when the founders by no means have any intention of really constructing out the venture. These have been initiatives that simply weren’t viable longterm and would have failed anyhow in order that they moved on reasonably than waste their time persevering with to try to make them one thing they weren’t.
— Retr0E8ght | Ryan (@Retr0E8ght) May 9, 2022
Azuki ground value plummets
The ground value of Azuki NFTs reacted negatively to the revelation made by Zagabond.
Based on information on NFT Worth Ground, the typical sale value of the NFTs was round 18 ETH firstly of the week however fell to as little as 10 ETH on Could 10 after Zagabond’s weblog submit.
Nonetheless, the weblog submit will not be the one issue behind the decline, because the broader crypto market has witnessed an enormous sell-off in latest days.
