What is doxxing and why does it matter
In light of the current bear market which has been heightened by the collapse of TerraLuna and the Azuki founder’s admission of rugpulling previous projects, now is a good time to focus on how to identify a team through doxxing: the process a team goes through to reveal their identities and project history. It is an important distinction to make that many traders use as a signal to determine how bullish or bearish they might be on certain projects that have their attention.
What is doxxing
Doxxing is the act of publicly revealing your identity. It is a significant step to the process of starting a crypto project because it allows investors to take a look at a team’s project history.
Similar to a resume during a job interview, allowing an investor to see a fully detailed list of previous web3 projects allows traders to identify key successes and failures that have happened in the past.
Moreover, by showing their history, investors can compare different projects to see what strengths or weaknesses a team might have, identify any patterns between projects which could be red flags, and observe if the team has learned from any past mistakes.
Why does it matter
This act, when creating an NFT project, is incredibly important because it creates trust between a team and the community. Without any significant relationship, a project has stronger potential to flop which is bad for everyone involved.
By going through a full team dox, community members can feel confident that the project is being led by competent and accountable people.
By not doxxing, a team is sacrificing their community; and if they are working on a project which they want to be successful, can prevent the exposure that they need.
Full-Disclosure
Following Zagabond’s statement about rug pulling, there was one primary concern - he didn’t fully reveal himself.
In his letter, he gives an overview of his previous work in the NFT space and acknowledges his success, failures, and what he learned during the process which helped him create the Azuki project that has achieved so much success. While this is a nice story that can help individuals learn from others, Zagabond is still dodging the essential component of a dox - revealing yourself.
Throughout the letter, he never fully discloses who he is which has many community members worrying about the future of Azuki. Coming clean about a history of rug pulling is nice, but without exposing his true identity it leaves the door open for many to fear that their Azuki will also end up being a rugpull.
Transparency is key to crypto
Its entire system is based on the public ledger and its ability to provide full accountability to anyone that uses it. Doxxing is no different from this fact. It is an action that stems from the same concept of blockchain transparency.
A team has nothing to fear from a full dox if there is nothing to hide; and in the case of Zagabond, a soft dox that does not fully reveal himself is a legitimate concern for Azuki holders. While the collection remains strong, the community’s trust in Zagabond is weak until a full-disclosure that establishes accountability is provided.
