Seeking a Resolution for the SAKΞ Situation — A Suggestion

General Discussion
1

Dear Sushi Community,

I am writing to seek a resolution for the SAKΞ situation. This post will include a short description of the SAKΞ project and its connection to SushiSwap, a rundown of the project’s history, and a description of what has been delivered and is still missing. The post will end with a suggestion of steps that should be taken to resolve the situation.


SAKΞ is a limited-edition tokenized sake project described as “bridging tradition and technology with quality design”. The project was curated by a Sake Samurai named Elliot Faber and produced by Kitanishi Shuzo. The bottle was designed by BIG Architects and featured the art of Jonathan Jay Lee. Only 888 bottles of SAKΞ were set to be made [1].

Bidding for SAKΞ opened on May 20, 2021, on the MISO launchpad [2], and the auction was completed on May 27, 2021, raising 246000 $SUSHI (worth approximately 3.21m$ at the time) [3].

A snapshot for additional art by Jonathan Jay Lee, which would also serve as the Shōyu Genesis Token, was taken on October 07, 2021 [4]. Minting the Jonathan Jay Lee Sake NFT opened on October 22, 2021 [5].

Sake brewing was reportedly completed on January 25, 2022 [6]. The official SAKΞ NFT by fvckrender (redeemable for 1 SAKΞ token) was revealed on February 25, 2022, with promised benefits: the redemption of physical sake, priority access for additional sake bottle purchases, and access to the SAKΞ Metaverse [7]. The website to convert the SAKΞ ERC20 into the official SAKΞ NFT opens on March 13, 2022 [8].

An allowlist for the new fvckrender project was created on March 16, 2022 [9]. This allowed SAKΞ NFT holders to participate in the Avatars project by fvckrender/lvcidia.

A post from the official SAKΞ account on May 21, 2022, states that the physical sake will be redeemable later the same month or in early June [10].


Recalling the original promises, the art by Jonathan Jay Lee has been delivered, but the arguably most significant part, the physical sake, is still not redeemable. Additionally, the official SAKΞ account has not made any other posts since May 2022. That said, the Sushi/SAKΞ team has also made some efforts to provide benefits to the SAKΞ community, which were not promised initially and should be appreciated.

Given the concerns and frustrations of the community, I propose that the following steps be taken to resolve the situation:

  1. Provide a clear and detailed update on the status of the SAKΞ project, including any delays or issues that have arisen.
  2. Outline a plan for fulfilling any outstanding promises or commitments made about the SAKΞ project.
  3. Consider implementing measures to prevent similar issues from occurring in the future, such as setting clear timelines and regularly updating the community on progress.

I hope that the Sushi Team will consider these suggestions and work towards a fair and satisfactory resolution for all parties involved.


Sincerely,
Chronostasis

Sources

[1] “SAKΞ,” Sushi.com, 2021. https://sake.sushi.com/ (last accessed January 03, 2023), Archive Link.

[2] “Start of the auction on MISO,” Twitter, 2023. https://twitter.com/0xSAKE/status/1395168118582906882 (last accessed January 03, 2023), Archive Link.

[3] “End of the auction on MISO,” Twitter, 2023. https://twitter.com/SushiSwap/status/1397688254732718082 (last accessed Jan. 03, 2023), Archive Link.
‌
[4] “Jonathan Jay Lee NFT Snapshot,” Twitter, 2023. https://twitter.com/0xSAKE/status/1445994750591455233 (last accessed January 03, 2023), Archive Link.

[5] “Jonathan Jay Lee NFT Mint,” Twitter, 2023. https://twitter.com/0xSAKE/status/1451619688438456333 (last accessed January 03, 2023), Archive Link.

[6] “Sake brewing completed,” Twitter, 2023. https://twitter.com/0xSAKE/status/1486103933097758725 (last accessed January 03, 2023), Archive Link.

[7] “Sake NFT Reveal,” Twitter, 2023. https://twitter.com/0xSAKE/status/1497017806092906496 (last
accessed Jan. 03, 2023), Archive Link.

[8] “Sake NFT Mint,” Twitter, 2023. https://twitter.com/0xSAKE/status/1502788250678661121 (last accessed January 03, 2023), Archive Link.

[9] “FVCK_AVATAR// Snapshot,” Twitter, 2023. https://twitter.com/0xSAKE/status/1504223727508025345 (last accessed January 03, 2023), Archive Link.

[10] “Sake Redemption Statement,” Twitter, 2023. https://twitter.com/0xSAKE/status/1528124651859488768 (last accessed January 03, 2023), Archive Link.

2 Likes
2

Hey Chronostasis,
I appreciate you bringing this up. Sak3 is a separate team & management. As a response to this post I have reached out to the sak3 team and I have a meeting booked for this Sunday. I will get clarification for you on all of these questions.

My understanding from the sak3 team is that the latency has been with the real world sake production, packaging, and fulfillment.

I will circle back after the meeting with an update for you & the rest of the community that are awaiting sak3.

3

I can’t post on sushi forum likely cause I don’t have enough posts so I’m posting this randomly to up my count.

4

Adding this twitter thread between Elliot, sak3 account and loldefi/walrus for visibility

www. twitter. com/walruswins/status/1575864986567512067?s=20&t=FQzQva3FCpb2jurlQoLbaw

5

Hey guys, posting an update here after meeting with the Sak3 team.

Those that own sak3 tokens & the accompanying NFT will be able to start redeeming the physical sake in February.

Most of the existing delays were due to COVID. However, the sak3 is being bottled & will be ready to start shipping in February.

6

How can we keep an eye on updates here?

1 Like
7

I’ll continue to provide updates every 2 weeks until ship date.

2 Likes
8

Hey guys, an update for everyone. Sushi is volunteering in order to create the sak3 redemption portal to give to the sak3 team in order to process the token redemption & sak3 bottle shipping. Sak3 team will handle logistics and fulfillment & ownership of the redemption site.

Chugging along for that first week of Feb date.

9

Update here, Sushi web design team has finished the design for the Sak3 redemption website.

We are now awaiting the Sak3 team to provide us with shipping quotes and what attestations redeemers need to provide.

Once we have that, we’ll be able to throw up the page and get you all pointed to it for redemption and shipping.

10

Thank you @Neiltbe for pushing this. I really appreciate it!

11

my friend, February ends in 4 days and we have NOTHING NEW AGAIN from sak3…could you please communicate with them to “pressure” them to do HERE a post on twitter to explain the reasons for the delays so that we can shut up too the REALLY FEW WHOWE ARE LEFT In a project that, if it continues at this rate, I believe it will unfortunately end up at 0???

12

Update: Sak3 team has connected with a shipper. And they’re finalizing shipping quotes. Have been told 1 week. :crossed_fingers:

1 Like
13

Hey Neil, I’ve been holding since the time of the initial offering and was wondering if you could provide any additional information on why the redemption time frame keeps getting moved. I know youre not in any way responsible, but this is difficult as holder, seeing as there isn’t a minimum viable product. Could you please give us the ‘brass tax’ on what the deal is? It’s been nearly two years since this project came to be and we still do not have answers. Thank you for your insights.

14

Hey Blurple, Sushi provided the redemption site/application to the Sak3 team last Thursday.

It is completely functional for the needs of redemption/fulfillment & they’ve been instructed to provide us with any polish items that we will promptly fix for their launch OR connect it to a domain and start fulfillment OR take the web files & code and have their own developers do as they wish.

I will continue to follow up with them this week to try and get an answer for you or anyone else monitoring this thread.

2 Likes
15

Have rebumped them, no reply yet.

16

Hey Neil, has the team replied yet/any updates yet?

17

No, however just pinged them again 60 seconds ago.

1 Like
18

Hello, I wanted to know if there is any update or what impressions you have?

If I’m not mistaken, there are two pending issues:

  1. In mid-March, they were in negotiations for shipment. Is there anything finalized at this point?
  2. At the end of May, Sushi provided an app, if I’m not mistaken, to perform the burning of the ERC-20 token and receive the physical SAK3. By the end of June, SAK3 has neither implemented the Sushi tool nor its own tool. Any updates?

Regarding Sushi’s strategy, what approach are they taking? Is there any way to apply pressure, or is it limited to periodic emails in the hope of a response?

As for me, I have an additional question: Has anyone from the Sushi team seen the physical SAK3 beyond videos, photos, and the staged presentation?

19

We’ve followed up again, I do think the sak3 is genuine. With that being said, we are trying to maintain the urgency for you all without overstepping.

It is tough to apply pressure because how independent sak3 team & sushi is. There really isn’t any overlap & all of the sushi team members that quarterbacked this (Maki & co.) have departed.

All of that is to convey we are following up to do right by you guys.

20

This still happening? Thanks.