Zagabond, the leader of the now infamous Azuki project released a a blog titled “A builder’s Journey.” where he admitted to being behind 3 previous projects that ultimately became rugpulls including CryptoPhunks, Tendies, and CryptoZunks. It is rumored that members of the Cool Cats team found out about his information and decided they were going to disclose the details of these previous projects causing Zagabond to get out ahead of the news with his blog post.
“Builders must learn from each experience, coming back to the drawing board with something innovative and significant each time. Bold innovation in tech and art is key to the success of Azuki. We experiment based on first principles, not convention. We fill in gaps in the space when we see them. This team pushes tech forward, and advocates for meaningful art, as well as deep, immersive storytelling. Azuki is our vision for the future of web3.”
Accoring to Zagabond he believes Azuki wouldn’t be what it is today without the learnings from our previous projects:
- Phunks taught us the important magic behind storytelling (i.e., Philip was the inspiration behind Bobu).
- Tendies taught us the importance of original ideas rather than chasing a short-lived meta.
- And Zunks taught us that no matter how great the product is, the space is looking for new universes, a strong sense of purpose beyond rare traits, and unique experiences with gas optimizations (i.e., this was the inspiration for ERC721A to reduce gas costs for the community).
On May 10th, he took to twitter spaces to defend his position but the damage has already been done and the floor price of the Azuki project is now below 10 ETH. Launching multiple projects isn’t the main issue collectors and the NFT Community have with with Zagabond. The majority of their frustration is around the personas this individual created to take advantage of unsuspecting collectors (including impersonating nonexistent women @0xamanda). Additionally, although he has stated he planned to give the community ownership of previous project, he has been unwilling to give up the keys to the wallets to allow the communities to thrive.
Azuki Team Drains 1,594 ETH (over $4m) from wallet
With the release of the article from Zagabond , the Azuki team drained the wallet that contained all of the Azuki funds. This by itself doesnt imply that this is 100% a rug (they could be moving it for a myriad of purposes) but it is an additional red-flag that may be the final nail in the coffin.
🚨🚨🚨 Azuki : Treasury
💰 1,594.00 $ETH ($ 3.94 M 💰)
💻 Azuki: Deployer
⬇️
🤷 Unknown Wallet✅ Follow AzukiOfficial
— Miyuki (@Miyuki_Kung) May 10, 2022
We are will stay ahead of this news and share as soon as we learn more.
We have established the NFT bill of rights to help projects avoid these challenges.