Reprinted from: HYPEBEAST
Original title: New NFT project Azuki team talks about the development of Web3 community culture | HYPETALKS
HYPETALKS returned last week, and this session will focus on building a community on Web3. HYPEBEAST Web3 Editor-in-Chief Rosie Perper moderated the conversation on HYPEBEAST’s new Web3 website, Hypemoon, and invited Zagabond, the mastermind behind the cutting-edge NFT project ‘Azuki’ with Hoshiboy.
Earlier this year, Chiru Labs, the startup that developed Azuki, released 8,700 Azuki avatars that sold out in three minutes, and nearly $300 million in transactions on several major NFT markets, including OpenSea, in the following month. In the past few months, Azuki’s monthly sales have surpassed another well-known NFT project, Bored Ape Yacht Club, to become one of the best-selling NFT series in the world. Azuki also plans to expand the brand to clothing and other fields. The ultimate vision is to create the largest decentralized brand in the metaverse, created by the community, owned by the community.
Azuki Gallery
Azuki
The true identities of the four founding members are a bit of a mystery, but that’s common in the industry. Zagabond, who participated in this conversation, worked in business development at Google and then worked at a decentralized financial platform for 4 years. And Hoshiboy has twice graduated from Y Combinator, a startup incubator. In contrast, Arnold Tsang, the fifth key character who has officially joined Chiru full-time recently, is much more ‘well-known’. Previously, he was the character designer of the well-known game “Overwatch”, and Azuki designed it in his spare time. IP image.
Azuki Official Website Homepage Animation
Azuki
The conversation focused on the growth of the brand and how the founders succeeded in fostering an active and focused community, often referred to as the ‘Skaters of The Internet’, a moniker Rosie Perper opened up about. Zagabond said: ‘If you’re in crypto, if you’ve traded NFTs, then I think you’re a skateboarder on the web. This new counterculture is forming around web3, and we are all part of it. ‘ He went on to add that while Web3 currently exists in its own separate domain, the blockchain-enabled universe must apply itself to every aspect of today’s culture within the next decade, ‘I feel that the new culture being formed around Web3 today is still A bit of a niche, but 5 to 10 years from now, I think Web3 culture is going to be a broad culture. ‘
When Azuki was founded, the brand clearly operates on three values: community first, only doing the coolest, and trusting the process. Product Manager Demna mentioned that the brand’s success is based on a solid commitment: ‘When you have a group of people who are so passionate about something and you become part of that energy, it can be laborious, but it’s so powerful. As long as I spend time with the community, I start and end my day with certainty. If you care about the community first, you will always provide them with cool stuff. ‘
Azuki four protagonists
Azuki
At the end of the conversation, Zagabond didn’t reveal too many details about what’s next for the brand, but he did give listeners some hints to look forward to: ‘Cool stuff is coming, March 30th, Los Angeles, and that’s all I have to say of. ‘Interested readers may wish to click to listen to the full conversation. To learn more about Azuki, you can also search the ‘Azuki Red Bean’ public account/Weibo or follow the official website azuki.com/zh.