On the early morning of June 28th, the well-known NFT project Azuki shocked all NFT players with an astonishing sale. This NFT brand, the only one in the bear market whose prices only rise and never fall, sold 10,000 PFPs almost identical to the original Azuki in just 20 minutes, for a total of 20,000 ETH. They made several unreasonable mistakes in the NFT industry, causing significant losses to the Azuki community players.

In response to this, BlockBeats interviewed a major holder of the Azuki series, who is also the founder of NDV Fund and co-founder of ManesLAB, Christian. Currently, he holds 40 Azuki, 700 Beanz, and 400 Azuki Elementals. After the "explosion" incident, Christian once expressed on social media his willingness to offer $40 million to acquire Azuki. This may be a joke, but it also reflects the anger and helplessness of the Azuki community.

BlockBeats: The community must be very dissatisfied right now. As a major holder, are you joking or serious about your willingness to offer $40 million to acquire Azuki?

Christian: To be precise, it's half joking and half serious. The serious part is that I do have high expectations for the Azuki brand and believe it has infinite possibilities. It can establish a truly influential trendy brand and cultural benchmark.

That's why I have made significant investments in it. If roughly calculated, I've probably spent several million dollars on it. There are also many strong and loyal major holders in the Chinese community. When you add up everyone's holdings, it should far exceed $40 million. So it's a sure win to acquire Azuki at this price, and I value the power of the community behind it even more. At the same time, I have confidence that I can turn the brand from a pure narrative into a sustainable cash-generating entity through solid operation.

The joking part is that $40 million is definitely an unattainable price. I used to have great trust in Zaga and his team. They are not the kind of people who would give up on a project with such good prospects for just a small profit. Because if they put their heart into it, the copyright royalties alone should be more than $10 million a year. However, if they mishandle this FUD, I think it could doom the entire project. Of course, the current situation is a bit unexpected to me. Because the image release this time, as well as the subsequent actions, were indeed somewhat surprising, and the quality was especially poor. We still want an explanation from the team.

BlockBeats: People outside the Azuki community may not be fully aware of the high expectations for this new product release. Can you share your expectations for this sale?

Christian: Now looking back, every step the team took seems a bit off. Firstly, the timing of the launch wasn't ideal because the sentiment in the NFT market has plummeted recently, yet the team still decided to absorb market liquidity at such a high mint price. I think even if the team priced it at 1 ETH, it wouldn't have caused such a great dissatisfaction among participants. But with the 2 ETH price, it indeed exceeds the upper limit of what people can comprehend, so I believe many people are reluctantly participating in this sale.

Moreover, this sale isn't particularly favorable for the original Azuki holders, especially the Beanz holders. This is something that saddens me because from the beginning, I saw great potential in the image and cultural attributes of Beanz, but the team hasn't made significant progress in the past year. I used to think they were working on something, but this direct launch has severely infringed upon the rights of the previous holders.

Before the sale, I also tweeted expressing my attitude: if Azuki can still release something different, some actual benefits and progress, even after this high-priced sale, it could boost the entire NFT field. Because I think there are still many funds waiting on the sidelines, but now, this sale is truly disappointing, and it has become a meme event, which is quite lamentable.

BlockBeats: Now that Azuki's reputation has hit rock bottom, let's assume the acquisition is successful. What ideas do you have to save Azuki?

Christian: The specific ideas need careful consideration and analysis, but I think there are a few principles that must be upheld. Firstly, a crucial aspect of an NFT project is to break free from the dilemma of "separating community users" and be genuinely able to create value from external sources. I have been emphasizing and adhering to this concept for a long time, including my choice to invest in and join the Little Ghost Weirdo Ghost Gang because I can see the team's tangible efforts to expand their community from a business model perspective. This includes selling physical merchandise, holding music festivals, and developing Web3 e-commerce products.

A good IP theoretically can create infinite value, and these income sources should drive the continuous development of the project. I believe the majority of NFT holders sincerely hope to become project shareholders, but so far, I haven't seen any project with a clear dividend distribution model. This includes my previous participation in Azuki's gold skateboard auction. Looking at it now, the team may have placed all their target paying users on these community members who genuinely wanted to make contributions.

But the true NFT and Web3 concept should still give ownership and distribution rights to the users, instead of using this guise to "harvest." Only then can there be a positive driving force for development. Azuki used to have the strongest community, including the Red Bean Garden and other sub-communities. They had a large number of talented individuals who didn't make any money but still worked for the brand and the community they love, which also makes me feel unfair for them.

I believe that NFT projects must break free from the vicious cycle of extracting value from holders, including decentralizing decision-making power to local communities, so that they can receive support and benefit distribution, thereby better promoting and developing the brand. Of course, this is easier said than done in terms of management. But if I believe that there are still fresh narratives worth exploring in this field, this is the direction I would choose to pursue.

BlockBeats: You previously mentioned that you would sell all if expectations were not met. Are you not planning to sell the Azuki series now?

Christian: I'm currently not planning to sell because, objectively speaking, the sentiment is already very negative. Unless the team does something irreparable, a rebound should actually come quickly. Selling at this time would cause significant losses for me personally as well as for the entire project and community. On the contrary, I have already started slowly buying more, and today I bought over 200 Beanz. If I end up losing, so be it. It's a way to show my love for something I once believed in, and to participate and have this experience of building a community together with so many people.

BlockBeats: The next question will be more macro. In a previous interview, we briefly discussed that you have a higher expectation for Azuki compared to other blue-chip projects. Why is that?

Christian: Firstly, the overall brand positioning is good, and there is ample room for storytelling, which is definitely its biggest advantage. But from the current perspective, relying solely on these factors is not enough to establish a long-term brand.

Setting aside those factors, the one and only reason why I am truly optimistic about Azuki is that even when it fell to 6 ETH, I didn't sell a single one. Till now, I have never sold any, but I have been consistently adding to my position. The only reason for this is that I deeply understand the immense power of its community, which is a fundamental pillar.

Although I lost money today, I don't feel particularly upset, but thinking about it, it's really sad to see such a stable community lose confidence. The price is just a short-term reflection based on emotions, but once the fundamentals change, trends will emerge. So, I hope the team can quickly provide a reasonable explanation to stabilize everyone's confidence.

BlockBeats: It seems that blue-chip NFTs with teams have all died out, but meme communities like Punk and Milady are thriving against the trend. In your opinion, where does the value of blue-chip NFTs lie?

Christian: Honestly, I believe that the value of blue-chip NFTs lies in the realm of imagination. Examples like MoonBirds and Doodles have also taught us that no matter how excellent the project team is or how large the project's market value is, or how many "powerful holders" the community has, if the team does not develop or the narrative stops, they can't stop the downward trend.

With the exception of BAYC, Azuki is the only blue-chip project that I consider to be valuable. A project can only be truly valuable as an NFT if it establishes a stable cash flow and gives back to the community. I haven't seen any projects like that today, but I hope to see more visionary and responsible founders step up to do this. Weirdo Ghost Gang has also been quietly working in this direction, although they may have lacked the ability to promote it on a large scale compared to Azuki. Of course, building culture and brands in a solid and grounded manner is not something that can be achieved overnight.

I believe that crypto needs more realistic business models, whether it's for NFTs or fungible tokens. The interesting part is the tension that comes with it. In the crypto space, once a narrative-driven business model becomes too clear, like with DeFi now, their valuations already have a limit. Capable teams should strive to find a perfect balance between the two aspects.

BlockBeats: Will the performance of blue-chip NFTs affect the future market and valuation of NFTfi?

Christian: Definitely. No matter how much infrastructure and derivative applications there are, there needs to be a core asset leading the market forward. A project with influence can only be accomplished by that very project, but it's uncertain what will lead in the future even though PFP was leading before. I believe there will be a leading project, but today Azuki shattered everyone's original fantasy. Given the circumstances, I can only say to myself, "How much worse can it get?" I still have confidence in the NFT space, including NFT projects like Paraspace which I have invested in. Emotionally, I see this as a severe blow to the NFT industry, but rationally I believe the future is still bright.

BlockBeats: Many projects are trying to find sustainable ways of generating profit, such as Nike's Swoosh and Weirdo Ghost Gang's CutUP. What is the correct way for NFT projects to achieve sustainable profitability?

Christian: It doesn't require groundbreaking innovation. Just doing well with physical merchandise and connecting the entire supply chain is already a great achievement with huge profit potential. Although Weirdo Ghost Gang's CutUP hasn't been heavily promoted, the previous releases have indeed allowed people outside of the community to start learning about the brand. Non-holders and non-Web3 industry professionals used to purchase branded clothing, and I believe these are good prospects. Another advantage of Web3 projects is establishing online presence - not to mention e-commerce - and in the future, they can even integrate with DeFi. These are all good experiments.

BlockBeats: Do blue-chip NFTs still have a narrative? Will the next cycle still be related to avatar NFTs?

Christian: I don't think Avatar NFTs will die, but it's obvious to everyone that the narrative of blue-chip NFTs relying solely on images is no longer sustainable.

Let's consider it from this perspective. Back then, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) actually created a miracle in business history. Within just one year, they went from nothing to a project valued at $5 billion. And they achieved this mainly through community consensus and hype. Many BAYC holders at that time were among the most influential people in the world, including Curry, Eminem, Doge Lord, Neymar, and others. However, even with such a powerful lineup, BAYC's market value stagnated at $5 billion.

So I think this issue is similar to discussing the essence of the entire DeFi. It appears to be experiencing certain bottlenecks now, and the high-yield Ponzi scheme relying on continuous capital influx will eventually reach its limit. After the illusion is shattered, there will definitely be a significant downturn and more reflection. Those who can grasp this reflection after the industry goes through a trough and explore which real business models can be validated will have a certain advantage in the upcoming trends.