Gary Sumner, also known by his online pseudonym Sendrock, is a prominent collector in the NFT market who has been a long time collector of 1/1 art in the space, but also has an impressive collection of blue chip PFPs including Cryptopunks, BAYC, and his personal favorite: Azuki. The Azuki NFT project features unique and beautiful anime style artwork that originally caught Sumner’s attention due to having some of the best art in the PFP realm. Azuki’s continued potential for growth and the extremely high quality of the Azuki community have been two major factors in why he continues to collect and has since joined the Azuki SpiritDAO. Sumner considers his Azuki’s to be some of the most promising investments in the NFT space, as they have yielded significant value gains since he first bought in and unlike many other projects, continues to grow in value even in the difficult market at time of writing.
In a recent interview with Clout Scoop, Sumner shared his insights on the NFT market and the Azuki NFT Project in particular. He believes that Azuki stands out from other NFT projects due to its “luxury streetwear lifestyle image” and the sense of community that drives the project and spurs on meetups and events around the world year round. Sumner is bullish on the future of Azuki and expects it to continue driving stability and growth during down times, while also offering significant long-term proofs for the space. However, he warns that making bets on NFT projects is a very difficult thing to gauge in this or any market conditions, and that anyone who is considering making purchases should do so because they love the art or community, or enjoy taking risks. To some extent, he believes that the projects which innovate and continue to evolve over time have the best chances of gaining in value, and warns that not all early NFT projects will be successful. He also pointed out that like businesses in general, 90%+ are destined to fail – and that it’s important we realize that this is not a flaw in the NFT space but rather just a hard fact of life, business and market timing.
Sumner believes that more or less the NFT market will follow crypto trends for quite some time, with similar market cycles that are slightly offset. He claims that the more important thing to pay attention to is the ways in which web3 will mature. He predicts that we will watch web3 become much more like Web 2.0 in user experience, and that as this takes place there will become wider adoption and true growth in the industry. For those considering taking the plunge in the Azuki NFT Project, Sumner recommends doing research, integrating with the community, and considering which traits they love the most before making any decisions. The highest value of 10k collection NFTs has likely always been the fact that they represent us and tell the world about us as our PFPs, so choosing your “web3 you” is the mission. He also has seen many who are well-capitalized purchasing “grails” or highly sought after, rare or aesthetically desirable components of the 10k collections, as they are likely to hold and grow in value with specific collector interest at the higher levels.
Sumner acknowledges that the biggest challenge facing the NFT market right now is its susceptibility to scams and dependence on the crypto markets, which have not been stellar lately. However, he believes that the Azuki NFT Project is addressing this challenge by consistently building intellectual property, value, and a diverse, invested and unique owner-base. The community-run projects, derivative art commissions and excitement surrounding both Azuki and their 20k counterpart BEANZ is unlike any other project in the space.
When asked about his long-term goals for collecting the Azuki NFT Project, Sumner replied that he plans to continue purchasing Azuki’s and Beanz, not only for their growth potential but also for their cultural significance. Sumner sees NFTs as an opportunity to support communities and artists while growing his network with interesting and innovative people. Ultimately, he believes that NFTs will become an integral part of the broader art market and cultural landscape.
