Azuki Founder Previously Created Phunks and Zunks
In a post today, Azuki founder @Zagabond admitted to working on NFT projects before Azuki, most notably CryptoPhunks and CryptoZunks.
CryptoPhunks is a collection of 10,000 CryptoPunk NFTs that are flipped 180 degrees. Zagabond calls Phunks a "Story Product" and admits that he roleplayed as an intern named Philip, who was the "artist" behind the project. CryptoPhunks have been delisted from OpenSea on numerous occasions as well as received DMCAs from the CryptoPunks founders Larva Labs. Yuga Labs, the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, has since acquired the IP rights to CryptoPunks which Zagabond says "...addressed the original concerns I had with the decisions that Larva Labs was making."
He also admitted to having founded CryptoZunks, which is a derivative of CryptoPunks but each of the 10,000 NFTs in this collection share no exact matches to the CryptoPunks NFTs unlike Phunks, which was a carbon copy with the image just being flipped. Zagabond goes on to say that Zunks "taught us that no matter how great the product is, the space is looking for new universes, a strong sense of purpose beyond rare traits" and then goes on the credit the gas issues with the CryptoZunks contract to be the inspiration for the ERC721A contract that helped reduce gas costs to Azuki minters.
