Bessie Liu

Ethereum-based protocol Cryptex Finance is launching JPEGz, an NFT market capitalization index token that will track ten different NFT collections. The token will be powered by Chainlink and Coinbase Cloud on Ethereum layer-2 solution Arbitrum.



JPEGz comprises 10 popular NFT projects: Azuki Official, Bored Ape Yacht Club, CloneX, Cool Cats, CrypToads, CryptoPunks, Doodles, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Vee Friends and World of Women.



&#8220;For the first time, users can mint price exposure to track 10 popular NFT collections using ETH or DAI without the need to hold the underlying NFTs themselves,” Joe Sticco, co-founder of Cryptex Finance, said in a statement.



Read More: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/your-guide-to-nft-platforms">Everything You Need To Know About Buying and Selling NFTs</a>



Over the past 30 days, the prices of popular NFTs have mostly been trending downward, with a few outliers.&nbsp;



Bored Ape Yacht Club has seen its price drop by about <a href="https://nftpricefloor.com/bored-ape-yacht-club" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">4%</a>, CryptoPunks has seen a <a href="https://nftpricefloor.com/?sort=ranking&amp;dir=asc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">4.2%</a> fall, and Cool Cats and CloneX have depreciated by <a href="https://nftpricefloor.com/cool-cats" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">21.5%</a> and <a href="https://nftpricefloor.com/clonex" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">12.7%</a>, respectively. On the other hand, the price of Azuki has increased by <a href="https://nftpricefloor.com/?sort=ranking&amp;dir=asc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">16.4%</a>, according to information from <a href="https://nftpricefloor.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NFT Price Floor</a>.



Index tokens, such as the one to be launched by Cryptex, diversify risks for investors by exposing them to a broader market of cryptoassets rather than one single asset. In this case, even if the price of one NFT collection drops, others may still remain profitable. This token type can be compared to an index fund in traditional finance.&nbsp;



Investors interested in NFTs but unwilling to take the risk of picking one over another can purchase fractional interest via JPEGz in any investment amount, or as a vehicle for dollar-cost averaging.&nbsp;



“Arbitrum’s collaborative NFT community has been growing rapidly, and now thanks to JPEGz, traders will have access to an indexing fund that directly tracks top NFT projects, allowing investors of all levels to have [a] stake in the largest NFTs projects globally,” Offchain Labs’ Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Saunders said in a press release.&nbsp;



The JPEGz token can be minted worldwide starting today on the Cryptex Finance dapp on Aributrum and can be swapped on Uniswap and Slingshot DEXes. The token will have a 1.5% minting and 1.5% burn fee — which will be applied to all transactions to fund Cryptex Finance DAO activities.



Because JPEGz is a synthetic index token, you can mint any amount of JPEGz in proportion to the collateral deposited, Sticco told Blockworks.



“Minting a fractional amount of tokens would have been difficult if JPEGz was a basket of tokens, but that&#8217;s not the case because JPEGz is a synthetic asset,” he said. “The same goes for burning. You can burn as many tokens as you like.”



“We are excited to see how JPEGz plans to accelerate with Arbitrum and drive scale over the coming months,” Saunders said.



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NFT Index Investing Has New Entrant With JPEGz Tokenized Basket

Shalini Nagarajan

David Canellis

Rising bitcoin and ether prices have offered short-term reprieve for battered crypto markets, but floor prices for Bored Apes and CryptoPunks have barely budged.



Both bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a>) and ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth">ETH</a>) are up nearly 40% year to date, both reaching highs not seen in around five months.



On the other hand, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/bored-ape-yacht-club">Bored Ape Yacht Club</a> (BAYC) and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/cryptopunks">CryptoPunks</a>’ floor prices — representing the last sale price of the cheapest NFT in each collection — are down between 5% and 8% since Jan. 1, hovering at 66 ETH ($107,000) and 63 ETH ($102,000), respectively.&nbsp;



It&#8217;s worth noting that floor prices are generally denominated in ether, which has indeed appreciated in US dollars. So, some assets have seen softening floor prices to adjust for those rises; <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/azuki">Azuki</a>’s floor is up a meager 8% year to date while Art Blocks’ Chromie Squiggles’ has dropped 17%, per NFTFloorPrice.



Average sale prices, however, are faring better, even when denominated in ether. All aforementioned projects have seen upticks between 14% and 35% over the past 30 days, led by Azuki.&nbsp;



Those figures were propelled by trades at the top end of each collection — the most expensive sales for Chromie Squiggles, Azuki and CryptoPunks are up hundreds of percentage points over the past 30 days, while BAYC’s has dropped 27%.



Marketplace volumes have also surged since the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/nft-collector-sentiment-inches-up-in-december">start of December</a>, when about $160 million in NFTs flowed through venues like OpenSea and Blur, the buzzy new platform promising to reward NFT traders with a token airdrop on Valentine’s Day, next month.



Those marketplaces recorded nearly $231 million over the past week, per a Dune Analytics <a href="https://dune.com/queries/1549266/2594879" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dashboard</a>, marking their highest point since May — a 40% jump.



“This shows how NFT trading volume is subject to market sentiment and bitcoin’s volatility, after bitcoin experienced a 50% move over the past few weeks,” Marcus Sotiriou, market analyst at GlobalBlock, told Blockworks.



<h3>ApeCoin rallies alongside NFT volumes</h3>



While BAYC trade volumes have diminished 30% over the past 30 days, creator Yuga Labs has seen success with an adjacent NFT collection. Sewer Pass, launched on Jan. 18, is a free mint meant for existing BAYC and Mutant Ape Yacht Club holders.&nbsp;



Sewer Pass is a significant development for many speculators who wondered how Yuga’s ecosystem would develop beyond BAYC. It essentially provides access to a game called Dookey Dash, which is a component of Yuga’s ‘Jimmy the Monkey’ storyline. The game started on Jan. 18 and can be played until Feb. 8.&nbsp;



Sewer Pass NFTs have crossed $14 million in secondary sales volume, raking in $700,000 in secondary sale revenue (based on a 5% royalty for Yuga as of Jan. 20, according to <a href="https://www.galaxy.com/research/insights/top-stories-of-the-week-1-20-23/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Galaxy Digital</a>).&nbsp;



Those gains have been reflected in ApeCoin (APE), the cryptocurrency central to Yuga Labs’ in-development BAYC metaverse, which has jumped nearly 65% year to date.



Less positively, German automobile maker Porsche <a href="https://nft.porsche.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">debuted</a> its first NFT this week, but it failed to take off as its <a href="https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain/status/1617723748685348865" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">floor price fell</a> within hours of the mint.



Updated Jan. 24, 2022 at 12:58 pm ET: Added context for floor price denomination.



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Bored Ape, CryptoPunk NFT Floor Prices Lag Bitcoin

Ornella Hernandez

The crypto industry, especially the centralized finance (CeFi) sector, has been <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/genesis-halts-lending" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">spun into chaos</a> following the revelation of FTX’s major market fraud. The bankrupt crypto exchange’s former CEO <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-do-tom-brady-steph-curry-and-naomi-osaka-have-in-common-an-ftx-lawsuit" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sam Bankman-Fried is now being sued for $11 billion</a> in damages.



An NFT-related casualty is the collection of Coachella NFTs stuck on the NFT marketplace without the option to withdraw or transfer them. The lifetime passes that generated $1.5 million in sales are now stuck on the custodial platform, <a href="https://twitter.com/_Kaspar__/status/1592542238361669632?s=20&amp;t=Qi1RMApzAjDzYC7C6pdGxw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">currently disabled</a>.&nbsp;



Nevertheless, Web3 companies keep on trudging and building through this crypto winter. And a few winners of the week emerge, mainly Yuga Labs, Nike and Azuki.



Here are some notable stories that caught the eyes of the Web3 Watch.&nbsp;



Yuga Labs has been busy



The parent company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) <a href="https://news.yuga.com/yuga-labs-acquires-wenew-10ktf-figge" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> on Monday its acquisition of WENEW Labs, an NFT venture co-founded by Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann. This new addition to the Yuga Labs family included the NFT collection 10KTF — a digital fashion shop in a “New Tokyo” universe.&nbsp;



Beeple has also joined the Yuga team as an advisor on the project, and Michael Figge, former WENEW CEO, is now Yuga’s chief content officer.&nbsp;



10KTF joins BAYC, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), Bored Ape Kennel Club, Otherdeed for Otherside, CryptoPunks and Meebits collections.&nbsp;



The 10KTF shop is run by artisan Wagmi-san and offers metaverse-ready accessories and digital wearables from the top Ethereum NFT collections, from BAYC to Moonbirds and Nouns. The store has also collaborated on special merch with brands such as Louis Vuitton, Playboy, Wimbledon, Gucci, Puma and others.&nbsp;



Yuga’s metaverse, Otherside, hinted at a possible collaboration with 10KTF, <a href="https://twitter.com/OthersideMeta/status/1592165612721426433?s=20&amp;t=VShuBxK3wC9xoIkYSgVTEw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeting</a> “Welcome to the Otherside, Wagmi-san.” Following the Monday announcements, four Yuga Labs NFTs still top the volume charts on OpenSea at the time of writing — BAYC, MAYC, Otherdeed for Otherside and CryptoPunks.



While BAYC has seen the most trading volume in ETH over the past seven days on OpenSea, its floor price briefly fell by more than 20% this week. After hovering around 60 ETH for the past couple of weeks, the floor price fell to 48 ETH, the lowest it has been since December 2021.&nbsp;



This allowed CryptoPunks to flip BAYC’s floor price. The current lowest priced punk available is for 66.79 ETH ($79,537), while the cheapest Bored Ape is going for 62.05 ETH ($73,559). CryptoPunks’ floor price has remained neutral to market conditions since early 2022 and seemingly unaffected in the aftermath of FTX.



Bored Ape NFTs, on the other hand, may have been affected by a rush of buyers on peer-to-peer lending platform BenDAO. It allows users to borrow up to 40% of an NFT’s floor price, and if the loan repayment fails, then the NFT will go on sale in a 48-hour auction.



Concerns over buying interest on BenDAO may have “pummeled the floor,” as punk9059 <a href="https://twitter.com/punk9059/status/1592670164453306368?s=20&amp;t=jTX6iDiBqFrzxhDby18rXA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>, and led to higher than average daily trades this week.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Nike’s new NFT world



Nike, who already owns the popular RTFKT NFT project, launched an NFT marketplace called .Swoosh — yes, with the dot — built on Polygon. The sports apparel company <a href="https://blog.swoosh.nike/what-just-happened-74f854d6c00f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">described</a> it as “our own special place on the internet where you can collect and help shape Nike virtual creations.”



Users can trade virtual apparel, sneakers, accessories and other collectibles to dress up an avatar and also unlock access to in-real-life products and events. Benefits could range from preordering a physical item, chatting with the shoe designers or even athletes that Nike sponsors.



The first collection will drop closer to the New Year, and the idea is for the community to be involved in future drops. It will host creator challenges where users can earn a royalty from the virtual products co-created with Nike.&nbsp;



Users will be able to create their own .Swoosh IDs as free NFTs minted on Polygon, which are necessary in order to access the platform. It’s like Nike&#8217;s proprietary version of the open Ethereum Name Service (ENS).



Registrations for .Swoosh ID&#8217;s start on Nov. 18, and once a user claims their ID they will be given a BitGo wallet.



Nike’s Web3 plans include an educational aspect. The company plans to go on a tour across the US, starting in Austin, TX, hosting tutorials and workshops on how their products work.



The brand works with some of the top athletes and celebrities in the world, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lebron James, Michael Jordan and Serena Williams to name a few. This means that any potential .Swoosh drop from one of them could likely help to onboard millions of new users into the space — similar to how Reddit’s NFT market onboarded nearly 3 million non-native users in only a few months due to its easy-to-understand language.&nbsp;



Nike also hinted at the possibility of video games and immersive experiences that may be coming soon. Nike <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/web3-watch-crypto-gaming-console-in-the-works-nikes-metaverse-plans" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filed a trademark application</a> for “video game integration” of NFTs in June with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.



Azuki to Race in F1



The Formula 1 season finale is coming up in Abu Dhabi this weekend, and Azuki holders and fans may be in for a big surprise.&nbsp;



Oracle Red Bull Racing, its main crypto sponsor Bybit and Azuki creator Chiru Labs have emblazoned Lei the Lightning Azuki #8494 on the side of a race car. 


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Bybit-Azuki-NFT-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-39556" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Bybit-Azuki-NFT-1024x683.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Bybit-Azuki-NFT-1024x683.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Bybit-Azuki-NFT-1024x683.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Bybit-Azuki-NFT-1024x683.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Bybit-Azuki-NFT-1024x683.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Bybit-Azuki-NFT-1024x683.jpg?w=386 386w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Bybit-Azuki-NFT-1024x683.jpg?w=392 392w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Bybit-Azuki-NFT-1024x683.jpg?w=329 329w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Bybit-Azuki-NFT-1024x683.jpg?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Bybit-Azuki-NFT-1024x683.jpg?w=50 50w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Lei the Lightning Azuki #8494 on Red Bull Racing&#8217;s car | Source: ByBit</figcaption></figure></div>


Racers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will get to ride in the NFT-adorned car during the Grand Prix. Red Bull Racing and Verstappen dominated the F1 season this year.



Christian Horner, CEO of Oracle Red Bull Racing, stated that being “the first to put a blue-chip NFT on a Formula One car is a tremendous feat.”



F1 fans may get a chance to own a limited-edition version of the Lei the Lightning Azuki #8494 on a first come, first served basis to be minted on Tezos for free.&nbsp;



Azuki founder Zagabond said that “Lei the Lightning Azuki reflects the passion, precision, and raw power” and that F1 is now part of Lei’s story.&nbsp;



Along with Tezos as a sponsor, the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit is a principal team partner of Oracle Red Bull Racing since February 2022. The Formula 1 industry has been a big proponent of the cryptocurrency space, however, reputation means everything.&nbsp;



Another F1 team, Mercedes-AMG Petronas, decided to terminate the sponsorship agreement it had with FTX since September 2021 following the bankruptcy saga.



Web3 gaming awards



A new Web3 gaming awards event hosted by Polkastarter Gaming is set to round out the year next month. The Gam3 Awards, as it’s called, <a href="https://polkastarter.gg/news/gam3-awards-announcement/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">intends</a> to recognize 2022’s best Web3-based games.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Awarding the best gam3s 🎮 16 categories. 30+ industry leaders. $300k prizes. 📅 15 December 2022. Save the date. Voting starts soon ⬇️<a href="https://t.co/p0niqHYzHw">https://t.co/p0niqHYzHw</a> <a href="https://t.co/8n0ArqZXS1">pic.twitter.com/8n0ArqZXS1</a>&mdash; GAM3 AWARDS | 15th Dec 🏆 (@PolkastarterGG) <a href="https://twitter.com/PolkastarterGG/status/1592160570794704899?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 14, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



A 30-person jury, along with the crypto gaming community, will judge over 100 games nominated across 16 different categories to vote on the best ones.



Some of the categories include game of the year, best graphics, best mobile game, best shooter game and best multiplayer game. There’s even a category for most anticipated game because video games take a long time to build and creating anticipation for one is important for its success.&nbsp;



The event plans to broadcast across Polkastarter Gaming’s Twitch, YouTube and Twitter channels. Winners of the first GAM3 Awards can earn a share of $300,000 worth of prizes from sponsors such as Immutable X, Blockchain Game Alliance, Machinations, Naavik and Ultra.



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Web3 Watch: Yuga Labs Adds to Portfolio, Nike Creates NFT Marketplace

<div id="highlights-block_6356b13665d49" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The most expensive NFT in the collection went for 309 ETH, or $404,000</li>
 <li>This is Azuki’s first implementation of the “physical backed token” standard</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



NFT issuer Azuki has set the record for the most expensive skateboard sales in history — both digital and physical.



Nine “Golden Skateboard” NFTs make up the most recent Azuki collection, with all but one sold under auction on Saturday, fetching $2.5 million in total.



One collector known as dingaling.eth dished out the 309 ether (ETH), or $404,000, in the Azuki Golden Skateboard NFT auction on Saturday. He bid seven times to win the dragon emblem token, now the most expensive in the set.



Seven other winners also bought into Azuki’s latest series.



Each skateboard is adorned with a unique emblem that has significance in Azuki lore, allowing holders a permanent role in the Azuki story — “cementing yourself as a part of Azuki mythology,” <a href="https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1583624319628107776?s=20&amp;t=A8FuTYmhHQwGbGFKRfAlLA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a> to the company.



The “frog emblem” Golden Skateboard NFT garnered the lowest bid, worth 200 ETH ($270,000). The remaining six NFTs fetched between 202 ETH and 303 ETH.



Ethereum-hosted <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/azuki-among-latest-nft-projects-to-gain-vc-funding/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Azuki NFTs</a> have quickly risen to blue-chip status and are known for their anime-style avatars. The overarching vision is to <a href="https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1583624365778010118?s=20&amp;t=A8FuTYmhHQwGbGFKRfAlLA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">create</a> a “decentralized anime universe combining the physical &amp; digital,” Azuki tweeted.



<h3>Azuki Skateboard NFTs can be redeemed for the real thing</h3>



The cheapest of Azuki’s original 10,000 generative art NFTs is currently 11.49 ETH ($15,300) with a market capitalization of 114,900 ETH ($153 million), per NFT Floor Price, about 85% lower than the most valuable NFT collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club.



Azuki’s digital golden skateboards can be redeemed for physical skateboards plated with 24-karat gold, but the holder would have to burn the NFT.



The physical skateboard element translated into a much higher floor price for the skateboard NFTs but a smaller market capitalization than the original collection, which makes sense as the new iteration is more exclusive.



The NFTs are considered physical backed tokens (PBT) — a standard that links the ownership of physical assets to their digital versions on Ethereum. This is different from a phygital offering that usually separates the physical and digital items after minting.&nbsp;



In this case, Azuki has embedded each skateboard with a PBT-based BEAN chip, a cryptographic chip that connects the physical item to its digital token. This enables owners of the physical asset to unlock digital benefits and experiences.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">The results of the Azuki Golden Skateboard auction are in. After 24H+ of fierce bidding (especially in the final moments), we have our top 8 Golden Skateboard auction winners. Let’s extend our warm &amp; heartfelt congratulations to the winners! Thread below 🧵 <a href="https://t.co/SxAOjhVTVn">pic.twitter.com/SxAOjhVTVn</a>&mdash; Azuki (@AzukiOfficial) <a href="https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1584010430703620098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Some of the benefits include a dragon banner display and a dragon emblem added to each collector’s profile on Azuki’s website. Auction winners will be able to claim their physical golden skateboards in November, according to the company.&nbsp;



This activity has placed the Azuki collection in third place on the OpenSea leaderboard in terms of sales volume over the past seven days.



Azuki’s skateboard sales <a href="https://boardsonthewall.com/blogs/news/most-expensive-skateboards-ever" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">surpass</a> what was once considered the most expensive skateboard ever sold — a <a href="https://twitter.com/skatepark/status/279637552695234560?s=20&amp;t=wGpEY5hAe5EvUumNyLmMnA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$38,425 board</a> with hand-written lyrics from Bob Dylan’s hit song, “Blowin’ In The Wind” and signed by professional skateboarder Jamie Thomas in 2012.



However, Azuki boards are not the first gold-plated ones to hit the market. In 2014, a father-and-son duo from the metals plating firm Epner Technology sought to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_cz1a4MUB4&amp;t=9s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sell</a> their version of a golden skateboard for $15,000, although it&#8217;s not clear if it attracted any buyers.



“Please consult your doctor before trying to ride a 45 lb skateboard,” Azuki <a href="https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1583624365778010118?s=20&amp;t=A8FuTYmhHQwGbGFKRfAlLA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>.



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Azuki NFTs Set Record for Most Expensive Skateboards in History

<div id="highlights-block_632dcbee52937" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Art and NFT collector Adrien Cheng may be involved in Chiru Labs’ raise</li>
 <li>An official announcement from Chiru Labs and Azuki founder is still anticipated</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



At first, Twitter rumor had it that the Azuki NFT project had <a href="https://twitter.com/tundra_v1/status/1572642446051520514?s=20&amp;t=2ZQuylgSFseIi0tU2rmMFg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raised</a> a round of funding that brought its creator company, Chiru Labs, to a valuation of $1.4 billion. That unconfirmed rumor was reportedly an exaggeration.



New information from The Block <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/171617/chiru-labs-azuki-creator-30-million-series-a-fundraise" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">suggests</a> that Chiru Labs is closing an upcoming $30 million Series A round, which would value Chiru Labs between $300 million and $400 million once completed.&nbsp;



Neither the company nor the project&#8217;s pseudonymous founder Zagabond have confirmed these values.



During the speculative frenzy, the price of the mean average Azuki went from 11.5 ether (ETH) to 15.7 ETH on OpenSea, with the collection peaking at a floor price of 11.9 ETH, on Wednesday.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/UODfb0qyiDU9gzk9qbO4u7m_1ehIG9LePisyPD7MDtSpOuiMQ370ZU1dp9EyluKrXFO2QTSVd7zqs0hiiRgca-N7OsSmbAXJqXLu9TTYAASeLQ5kRDcWYim2gFvjSsTjCQ0-EXNHVxKpZvs2lQjMsD7rCT-z9zoG6uPGuyDoimVCFH7I_U1JiSZeOw" alt=""/></figure>



The highest price paid in US dollars for an Azuki NFT in the past 30 days was around $142,700 — 105 ETH, on Monday, <a href="https://nonfungible.com/market-tracker/azuki" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a> to NonFungible. As the price of ether declined, another collector ended up <a href="https://nonfungible.com/market-tracker/azuki/AZUKI/837" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">purchasing</a> an Azuki NFT two days later for 106 ETH, or about $135,000.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Prohibitions against trading on insider information, when it comes to NFTs, remains <a href="https://tim.blog/2022/08/09/nft-insider-trading-policy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a murky area</a> of business policy and the law.



Recently, Hong-Kong based art collector Adrian Cheng tweeted that he acquired 101 Azukis to “democratise and demystify Web3 and Metaverse for all” out of “love and admiration” for the collection.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">My latest acquisition of 101 Azukis to democratise and demystify <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Web3?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Web3</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Metaverse?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Metaverse</a> for all. We will carve out a unique space in the Web3 world and bring our culture of creativity and community-based experiences to life. <a href="https://t.co/6rnpdP4sL7">pic.twitter.com/6rnpdP4sL7</a>&mdash; Adrian Cheng (@AdrianCheng) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdrianCheng/status/1563121088350920705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Cheng, who is also a co-founder of the venture capital firm C Capital, announced his firm’s rebrand to C Ventures and its plans to raise a $200 million blockchain fund and a $300 million private equity fund within the next 18 months, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-21/h-k-tycoon-backed-firm-is-raising-500-million-for-crypto-pe?leadSource=uverify%20wall" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> Bloomberg.&nbsp;



Whether Cheng participated in Chiru Labs’ supposed fundraising efforts is not yet clear.



However, Benoit Pagotto, the co-founder of the Nike-owned NFT project RTFKT, did make a curious Tweet not long before the rumors started. In response to a Twitter user alluding to a venture capital funding announcement from Azuki on Sept. 13, Pagotto stated that Chiru Labs may have been “talking to a lot of vcs” but it wasn’t closing deals.



He also mentioned Cheng’s recent NFT sweep as the potential “start of something” and revealed Cheng had also invested in RTFKT.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">they been talking to a lot of vcs but got a lot of no from what I’ve heard. Adrian Cheng recent big floor sweep must be the start of something though, him being the founder of C ventures [ previous rtfkt investor ]&mdash; Benit0 RTFKT 👁‍🗨 (@benitopagotto) <a href="https://twitter.com/benitopagotto/status/1569972029750747136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 14, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h3>Other recent NFT project raises</h3>



Hume, a Web3 record label, previously acquired the virtual “metastar” Angelbaby — an NFT character from the NFT project FLUF World. On Thursday, Hume <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dbloom/2022/09/22/angelbaby-owner-hume-lands-117-million-to-create-promote-virtual-music-metastars/?sh=293f602426df" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> it raised $11.7 million in a Series A round to fund more metaverse-based musical artists.



Doodles <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mariagraciasantillanalinares/2022/09/13/reddits-ohanian-leads-54-million-doodles-capital-raise/?sh=422b4bf43bf3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">revealed</a> last week it had raised $54 million at a $704 million valuation, in a round led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital firm 776. Although Doodles had originally announced the investment <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/nft-nyc-recap-bored-apes-and-doodles-and-snoop-dogg-oh-my/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in June, during NFT.NYC</a>, it had not disclosed the deal’s specifics.



Proof Collective, the company behind Moonbirds NFTs, <a href="https://twitter.com/proof_xyz/status/1564689271755137024?s=20&amp;t=RgBYQId2vtlaeS5ezi4uog">raised</a> $50 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) at the end of August.&nbsp;&nbsp;



And the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bored-ape-yacht-club-creator-secures-whopping-450m-seed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">largest NFT funding round to date goes to Bored Ape Yacht Club</a> creator Yuga Labs.



Thanks to a16z, the startup raised $450 million in March, bringing its valuation to $4 billion.



These projects claim the capital raised will go toward executing their roadmaps and funding the expansion of their intellectual property and NFT ecosystem into entertainment, metaverse and gaming ventures.



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Azuki Among Latest NFT Projects To Gain VC Funding: Report

<div id="highlights-block_627ad953ed7e8" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Azuki is the sixth-highest selling collection in terms of trading volume on OpenSea at the time of publication</li>
 <li>Azuki founder reassured a Twitter Spaces audience that he is fully committed to building out Azuki</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



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.&nbsp;



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, <a href="https://mirror.xyz/0x1Cb8332607fba6A780DdE78584AD3BFD1eEB1E40/yG8rI1lpQGLPhZch0kjxYRjKTtA9rAL51zg-ZrURyAc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a> 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. 



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">•Bull or bear, Azuki is building towards the future of web3. We&#39;re in it for the long term. •Builders need to experiment for web3 to challenge web2. •Azuki is built on learnings from creating Phunks &amp; other projects. This taught me to lead, not follow.<a href="https://t.co/Z2enFov8m9">https://t.co/Z2enFov8m9</a>&mdash; ZAGABOND.ETH (@ZAGABOND) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZAGABOND/status/1523775812893249537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 9, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



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



One user, @sxtvik, <a href="https://twitter.com/sxtvik/status/1523791784614109185?s=20&amp;t=qHRSQ0WVmKclSBZUs7lc9Q" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>, “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, <a href="https://twitter.com/pana067/status/1523829890608295937?s=20&amp;t=kqEJKBcz2pv_-1dMkQWCUg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a> 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&#8217;s just an NFT, they aren&#8217;t responsible for working on it anymore,” the user <a href="https://twitter.com/Loopifyyy/status/1523995831048851459?s=20&amp;t=ao-v6UcfdXuncMeHGi0wmA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>.



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.



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