How One Builder Turned Controversy Into A Billion Dollar Web3 Brand -- The Story Of Azuki & Zagabond
Early Life & Beginning
• born in the US/China-limited personal info publicly shared
• develops a strong interest in gaming, art & tech from a young age
• studies computer science and product design
• inspired by crypto’s promise of digital ownership & creator empowerment
2017-2020: Crypto Immersion
• gets involved in the Ethereum Ecosystem
• experiments with DeFi protocols & NFT smart contracts
• fascinated by how digital scarcity and community can create new economics
• begins thinking about building culture native brands onchain
2020-2021: Learning & Early Projects
• quietly works on smaller NFT & Blockchain experiments (several early collections later linked to him)
• studies the psychology of collectors, traders & fandoms
• becomes known in crypto art circles as Zagabond
• starts forming the idea of a global anime inspired NFT brand that blends streetwear, story telling & Web3
January 2022: The Birth Of Azuki
• co-founds ^Azuki^, a 10000 piece anime style NFT collection on Ethereum
• combines clean art direction, youth culture and a membership style model called The Garden
• built by Chiru Labs, a small team of artists & engineers
• sells out in minutes, generating over 30M$ in primary sales
• quickly becomes one of the fastest growing NFT brands of the bull market
Q1-Q2 2022: Meteoric Rise
• Azuki’s floor price jumps above 20 ETH
• holders include top collectors, creators & influencers
• collaborations emerge with brands and artists fueling hype
• Chiru Labs expands the brand with IRL events, merch and lore based storytelling
• Azuki is hailed as the Supreme of NFT'S - merging fashion, anime & crypto
May 2022: Controversy
• Zagabond reveals he had previously worked on 3 abandoned NFT projects - CryptoPunks, Tendies and Zunks
• community accuses him of rug pulls and poor transparency
• Azuki’s floor crashes over 50% overnight
• Zagabond issues a public apology and recommits to Azuki’s long term vision
• controversy sparks industry wide debates on accountability and ethics in NFT projects
Late 2022-2023: Rebuilding Phase
• Chiru Labs refocuses on brand trust and IP expansion
• launches ^BEANZ^, a companion collection giving new users a lower entry point
• re-engages holders with events, story telling & new art reveals
• partners with brands like AMBUSH, Red Bull Racing and Hypebeast
• continues to drive culture driven marketing despite the NFT bear market
2024: Brand Expansion & Ecosystem Building
• develops Azuki’s onchain storytelling universe - Hilumia, an interactive virtual city for holders
• experiments with gamified experiences, wearables and digital identity
• Chiru Labs raises capital to grow IP beyond NFTs into games, animation and fashion
• positions Azuki as more than a collection -- a media & lifestyle brand for Web3 natives
2025: Today
• Azuki remains one of the top 10 NFT collections by trading volume and cultural relevance
• estimated lifetime volume exceeds 1B $
• Chiru Labs continues to expand into global licensing and entertainment partnerships
• Zagabond stays relatively low profile but involved in strategic direction
• focus now on sustainability, real utility and long term story telling around Web3 native IP
Azuki’s journey captures the full of innovation, hype, controvers & brand evolution
#Azuki #Zagabond #NFTCommunity #AzukiNFT