What are Azuki? Everything you need to know about the most famous anime-NFTs!

What are the best Anime NFTs on OpenSea? The Azuki! Discover the history of the most popular PFP anime on the Web3!

The most iconic collections in the NFT world are referred to as blue chips, precious pearls that tower above the peaks of the market. Bored Ape Yacht Club and Crypto Punks are certainly part of this exclusive club, but if we scroll through the OpenSea rankings we find plenty of would-be members. Among them is a prominent collection of anime PFP NFTs.

The Azuki collection is based on Ethereum and has 10,000 pieces inspired by anime aesthetics. PFP is an acronym that stands for “profile picture” and it is used to describe NFTs that are designed to be used as such.

What really distinguishes Azuki from other projects is its history and roadmap. The project first appeared on social networks : particularly in January 2022 on Twitter. It quickly won the hearts of fans online and offline. However, in May 2022, the founder, known on Twitter by the handle Zagabond.eth, made a statement that generated controversy and debate. Find out more about the compelling story of Azuki NFTs!

What are Azuki NFTs: anime PFPs that conquered the market

Like most PFP NFTs, Azuki are the result of a random selection of traits. These traits were drawn according to a particular mix of styles. On the one hand, there is the clear inspiration from the anime-style RPG The World Ends with You. On the other hand, especially when it comes to outfits, the NFTs are reminiscent of the style of the famous skateboarding magazine Thrasher Magazine. The Web3 company behind the development of Azuki NFT is Chiru Labs, a Los Angeles-based collective of developers and artists. The collection of 10,000 Avatars was launched on the 12th of January 2022, according to the Dutch Auction method: a type of NFT sale where a starting price is set as well as a time period after which the price of the NFT decreases. The Azuki started with a price of 1 ETH per NFT, and it was supposed to decrease by 0.05 ETH every 20 minutes. Thanks to the hype generated by the collection in the days before the launch, this did not end up happening and the collection was sold out within 3 minutes. The final price per Azuki avatar was therefore 1 ETH. Chiru Labs also aims to expand outside the world of Web3 and the Azuki brand could embrace various sectors, both online and in the real world.

The Mindmap and the real-world usefulness of Azuki NFTs

The Azuki NFT collection already shared its roadmap before launch, which helped to ensure the project’s immediate trust from the part of the NFT world. The roadmap, called Mindmap by the team, shows the goals that the anime PFP project aims to achieve by working closely with the community. There are no clear timelines outlining the brand’s evolution process, but there are macro-areas on which the developers and artists are working to make the experience for users in The Garden special. The Garden is the exclusive club dedicated to those who own at least one Azuki NFT. Highlights of the Azuki journey will include immersive 3D experiences, exclusive streetwear collections, physical and virtual art exhibitions and a token named BEAN. Azuki is also looking to create its own unique metaverse, in which interactive multimedia experiences and games will be available.

Chiru Labs’ main intention, however, is to create a bridge between the virtual world of Azuki and the real world. Azuki’s event at the NFT week in New York is certainly an example of this. Through various art installations, the team created a Japanese-style scenario where it was possible to listen to live music, taste different foods and even get a tattoo! In terms of the creation of physical-digital products, the Azuki team has already offered a glimpse of what seems to be its intent with the ‘Twin Tigers Jackets‘ and the ‘Golden Skateboard Shrine‘. The first physical-digital product of the Azuki anime NFTs was launched in May 2022 and consisted of NFTs depicting Japanese-style silk jackets. These NFTs were distributed to Azuki PFP holders, with whom they could redeem physical jackets as of the 19th of July. Members of The Garden chose or to ‘burn’ it and receive the Japanese silk jackets, which are expected to be shipped by December 2022. For those who did not request the physical jacket and therefore still hold the token, the team promises an unknown future utility as of yet. The second initiative was launched in October 2022. This time, instead of jackets, the NFTs represented skateboards. The collection was dubbed ‘Proof-of-Skate‘ by the NFT Azuki Anime team. There were only 9 NFT skateboards available and they too will be redeemable for physical skateboards in the future. The Golden Skateboard Shrines were auctioned off, their selling price ranged from a low of 200 ETH, about $260,000 to a high of 309 ETH, about $400,000. .

The controversial Zagabond issue

The story of Azuki NFT collection has nevertheless also seen some dark moments, when it was thought that the project might be abandoned. In May 2022, shortly after reaching new all-time highs and establishing itself as a true blue chip, it emerged that Zagabond (a member of the core team and innovation lab Chiru Labs) was the owner of three previous NFT projects that were abandoned. The NFT collections in question are: Tendies, CryptoZunks and CryptoPhunks. Following the release of the news, the floor price – the minimum price at which an anime PFP can be purchased – which was of around 30 ETH, dropped by half which fuelled further distrust in the collection. The debate on Twitter was very heated, Zagabond apologised and tried to explain that the abandonment was intended to leave the decision-making power completely to the community and that there were no fixed rules for NFT creators forcing him to continue the projects he had previously created. 

Despite general community scepticism about Zagabond’s past, the Azuki brand continues to work and build, and it remains in OpenSea‘s top 20 list in terms of both volume and floor price. In addition, it is the sixth largest project by total volume in the history of the NFT marketplace, with more than 250,000 ETH traded.

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