Trading Volumes Spike on Azuki NFTs After Creator Admits to Failed Projects

Azuki founder Zagabond revealed he was part of three failed NFT projects within the past year

article-image

Source: Azuki

share

key takeaways

  • Azuki is the sixth-highest selling collection in terms of trading volume on OpenSea at the time of publication
  • Azuki founder reassured a Twitter Spaces audience that he is fully committed to building out Azuki

An anime-inspired NFT collection of avatars, Azuki, had been serving up some stiff competition among industry-leading collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club and Clone X since the project’s January launch. 

The digital collectibles, whose prices are plummeting, are now at the forefront of the latest NFT (non-fungible token) controversy.

Azuki’s founder, known as Zagabond, published a blog post about his history prior to launching Azuki, revealing he was behind three NFT collections — CryptoPhunks, Tendies and CryptoZunks — that were abandoned by their founders. 

Loading Tweet..

In response, many Twitter users dubbed the projects rug pulls or scams that were never intended to be built.

One user, @sxtvik, tweeted, “thanks for informing everyone that you’re a serial rug artist, makes everyone really have a lot of trust and confidence in you!” Another user, @pana067, tweeted that any future buyers of Azuki “need Jesus.”

Others, however, defended Zagabond, such as @Loopifyyy, who said CryptoPhunks and CryptoZunks were not scams.

“If someone promises you something and then delivers on that promise, even if it’s just an NFT, they aren’t responsible for working on it anymore,” the user tweeted.

The Azuki founder addressed these concerns in a Twitter Spaces session hosted by NFT influencer Andrew Wang, explaining that these projects were not rug pulls, but rather “there was no product market fit at the end of the day.”

The founder added that any disappointment was a matter of “misaligned expectations” between creators and consumers.

He claimed that as a builder, he’s been trained to experiment and reiterate or pivot as soon as something fails or is deemed unviable, long term, rather than waste time. He admitted that he could have better approached handing off one of those projects.

“It seems that consumers still have an expectation that the team and the developers will continue to work on the project in perpetuity,” Zagabond said. “And as a creative, are you indebted to these community members and this project forever?”

As a result, the price of an Azuki fluctuated heavily on OpenSea, and its floor price has dropped from 21 ether (ETH) since the news broke to 9 ETH at the time of publication. However, volumes and transactions have increased by 998% in the last 24 hours as savvy traders attempt to capitalize on the steep price swings.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (19).png

Research

Suilend has grown into the top money market and liquid staking provider on Sui. STEAMM, Suilend’s Superfluid AMM, presents a compelling avenue for growing market share within Sui’s DEX landscape and revenue generation for the protocol. Suilend’s multi-product suite position it well for owning market share across key verticals. While current metrics across the Sui ecosystem are likely inflated due to Sui Foundation incentive programs, SEND trades at amongst the lowest multiples in the lend/borrow sector, suggesting that a bull case for continued growth in the ecosystem may be mispriced.

article-image

Silk Road founder Ulbricht made a triumphant return to the Bitcoin Conference, 10 years on from sentencing

article-image

A Blockworks Research report looked at who could take up some of the marketshare in the launchpad space

article-image

Business-to-business stablecoin payments are on the rise, per a report from Artemis, Dragonfly and Castle Island

article-image

Crypto continues to do its thing: incentivizing behavior

article-image

Kraken will soon offer Backed ‘xStocks’ as Solana tokens

article-image

In a unanimous decision, the US Court of International Trade has ruled that Trump’s IEEPA tariffs are unlawful