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GM WIWers!
The past month has been a rollercoaster ride for the cryptocurrency market, with prices fluctuating wildly and showing little overall movement. However, the NFT space on Ethereum has recently experienced a small resurgence in popularity thanks to Azuki, one of the leading figures in the space, announcing the release of a new series called Azuki Elementals.
With the reveal of Elementals, people have noticed that it is strikingly similar to previous Azuki releases, lacking innovation. As a result, the floor price has been heavily impacted.
In this episode of WIW Insight, we have closely tracked the entire process of the Elemental release. Hopefully, we can bring you some exciting stories and insights.
On June 28th, the highly anticipated new series Azuki Elementals by renowned Azuki was officially launched and quickly sold out even before the public sale. Considering the recent sluggishness in the NFT market, users and the community support towards the Azuki project is evident.
However, as the Azuki Elementals reveal unfolded, disappointment arose as people discovered that, apart from minor differences, a significant portion of the Elementals collection was essentially a replication of Azuki's original artwork.
As a result of the community's shattered sentiment, the entire Azuki series experienced a decline in value. As of the early hours of June 29th, the floor price for Azuki stood at 9.1 ETH, representing a 45.54% decrease over the past 7 days. Beanz, another collection by Azuki, saw its floor price drop to 0.63 ETH, a 54.64% decrease. Azuki Elementals, having failed to meet expectations, currently sits at a floor price of 1.64 ETH.
Are Original Holders Ditching Azuki? A Look at Some Basic Statistics
Despite the significant discontent expressed towards Azuki on social media, is it true that a large number of Azuki supporters have chosen to ditch the project, as some media outlets claim? To get a more accurate picture, let's turn to on-chain data. Through WIW's investigation, we have uncovered some interesting findings:
Among the earliest Azuki Minters, the percentage of those who still hold Azukis stands at 6%. Considering that the project has been in circulation for nearly a year and a half, this figure is not surprising. However, this data has remained relatively stable, showing little fluctuation before and after the controversy surrounding Elementals on the 27th. This suggests that for hundreds of loyal Azuki OG holders, the Elementals controversy did not lead them to ditch the community.
A similar situation can be observed with Beanz, another derivative of Azuki. 36% of Airdrop Receivers have chosen to Diamond-Handing Beanz. Given that Beanz has a relatively low overall cost and the airdrop was not distributed on a one-to-one basis, this data appears to be relatively optimistic.
In contrast, the data for Elementals is less encouraging, with only 26% of Minters choosing to continue holding it. In other words, three-quarters of Elemental Minters opted to sell within the first two days of acquiring the NFTs.
Azuki Whales Stand Strong with the Project
Despite the relatively high turnover rates for both Azuki and Elementals among general holders, the top 10 Azuki Whales, continue to maintain confidence in Azuki and its derivatives. Out of these Azuki Whales, 9 out of 10 have not sold any of their Azuki holdings, and 2 of them have strategically acquired a significant number of Azukis, ranging from 6 to 10 ETH, through floor sweeping, securing their positions in the top 10.
Several whales who have publicly disclosed their holdings using ENS Domains have shown the utmost support for the project. Users such as @Rewkang, @luggisdoteth, @LastKnightEth, @dingalingts, and @SamuraiSpirit88. Notably, Dingalings has also expressed tons of positive sentiments towards the project through tweets.