My thoughts on the @Azuki situation as a founder, bag holder, and somebody who loves the brand. TL;DR: → a pivot is better than no pivot. they swallowed tough pills and decided to double down on putting resources toward IP proliferation and Web2 efforts (my assumption, I could be wrong) → announcement was fine, people just took it out of context → the blueprint to scale IP for an anime brand is VERY different to other cute IPs we see in NFTs who are doing great in terms of social metrics. Azuki is taking the right direction, but it will take a lot longer to see results. → the ecosystem will most likely continue to bleed until we see good product results. → it's an undeniable fact that Azuki has provided dope af experiences in Web3 for their holders and given back, but as the space gets rougher, they must pivot as well to survive. Communications Your comms around tough announcements need to be close to perfect - people will take things out of context and make you look horrible on Twitter; which we are seeing happen right now. Royalties 100% should not have been mentioned. I believe their intent was to justify lay offs due to no ongoing revenue, as royalties are the only source of income for 99.99% of projects. Lay-Offs No one except the team knows the situation regarding employee lay-offs. It will always be tough letting go notable team members who have played a pivotal role in the growth of the brand. My assumption is that these community-focused roles were probably burning low-mid 5 figures each month in salaries with no returns (monetary-wise). NFTs are in an extremely tough position, and for existing projects - it's very hard to continuously grow the community. Azuki has hosted some of, if not, the most dope events in the space and definitely gave a lot back to the community. The Future A pivot is better than no pivot. Scaling an anime brand is VERY hard. A lot of other NFT projects 'scale' using the same tactic - cute IP, media that's very easy to go viral, merch/plushies, etc. You cannot do the same blueprint with an anime brand. They've swallowed a hard pill, saw Web3 focus was netting no returns for the business, and have pivoted to try scale Web2 (e.g. TCG). Without an existing popular IP, I think it will be hard for the TCG to initially take off - but let's see how it goes. However, I would have liked to see them grow the manga and establish a good foundation before doing something like this. Personally, I think their best shot, at least in the short term is @animecom. They have the resources and potential to truly rise in the online anime space. UI/UX, domain and current features are clean. My biggest feature request is making a fork of MyAnimeList - I've requested it from Day 1 and think a lot of user onboarding can be done this way. My personal opinion is we will see ongoing bleeding of their NFTs and token until their products start seeing results. They are taking the right direction - they NEED to focus on Web2 and revenue generation to be able to thrive, and provide value back to holders. The reason why I've bagheld Azuki and experienced a giga roundtrip is because I wanted to be part of this journey - I love anime. Succeeding in anime alone is extremely tough, and combining it with crypto makes it a near-impossible feat - but I want to be part of this experience as they try to achieve it. Yeah, the loss hurts, but including the ANIME airdrop, I haven't lost thaaaaaat much. It's definitely bag holder copium, NFTs/token don't give you equity, but I still feel a part of the journey. Believe in something. ⛩️