At the heart of last week’s market stir sat a group of Azuki non-fungible token (NFT) holders. After shimmering disappointment arose from the Elementals NFT mint venture, these stakeholders rallied for a substantial return of nearly 20,000 Ether. Speculations go as far as to suggest the Azuki team may have orchestrated a grand scheme to “blatantly scam” their supporters.
In a noteworthy move, the group is considering deploying any recouped funds back into a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) to consolidate and nourish the Azuki ecosystem further. This tact would manifest through rewards and incentives laid out for content creators, artists, and builders alike. Interestingly, the new DAO has already registered a 72-member strong community, as of Monday, featuring 36 sets of voting hands. Almost 40% of these affirmative nods, however, belong to a single large holder.
Last week revealed itself to be particularly fruitful to Chiru Labs, the mastermind company behind the Azuki NFT project, as it enjoyed an explosive expansion of their ecosystem with the launch of Elemental add-ons. A notably high influx of $38 million worth of Ether suffused within an impressive 15-minute frame. However, instead of basking in the afterglow of this success, the firm found itself wrestling with immense market backlash.
Broadly speaking, most of the clamor hovered around the uncanny similarity between some of the fresh NFTs and the original Azuki collection, which debuted in February 2022, with the Elementals as a different branding narrative. This discontentment swiftly rolled out a corresponding blow, leading to near 50% plunge in the Azuki’s floor price, compelling Chiru Labs to readjust its approach on handling a crisis.
There was a noticeable inclination among a portion of Azuki DAO members, however, to recover their money. A proposed plan efficiently peered through this demand and won the preference of nearly 88% of voters over the weekend. The idea suggested that the funds sent to the Elementals mint should loopback to users, instead of being rerouted into procuring new NFTs.
An even more remarkable suggestion on the table involves legal action against “Zagabond,” Azuki’s creator. The accusation blames him for allegedly “rugging” various projects – a term coined in the crypto world for a sleight-of-hand trick where creators or developers promote a project and subsequently abscond with invested funds.
However, the AzukiDAO hasn’t been immune to probing questions from critics on Twitter attacking its legitimacy and ultimate purpose. Some enthusiasts went as far as accusing the Azuki holders of being either “fake” or consciously bearing “malicious intent.” The unfurling web of crypto-dynamics promises an enthralling series of unfolding events to watch out for. Stay tuned!
Source: Coindesk
