Every anime fan should know this collection. Inspired by Japanese cartoons, the PFP project counts 10,000 unique NFTs. What’s more, few projects we know of have received as much publicity as the Azuki NFT!
Controversy, scandals – these are just part of what has contributed to the project getting so much publicity. In today’s lesson, we have a closer look at the story behind Azuki NFT. Enjoy your reading!
What is Azuki? The story of a successful start-up!
Let’s start from the beginning. Azuki NFT is a collection of 10,000 non-exchangeable tokens (NFTs) inspired by anime. It is a blend of the 3D role-playing game The World Ends With You and the skateboarding magazine Thrasher. Each token in the collection was created through a random selection of features, as PFP NFT projects tend to do.
Tokens are built on the Ethereum blockchain. They have the same characteristics as any non-exchangeable token. Their features and history are immutable. The original Azuki and Beanz collection (we will discuss it in the paragraphs below) can be purchased on OpenSea and LooksRare.
Azuki NFT was created by Chiru Labs. It is a group of artists and developers based in Los Angeles. It includes members such as HoshiBoy and Zagabond. From the very beginning, the creators assumed one thing – Azuki is to be more than just an Azuki NFT collection!
The project premiered in January 2022. Initially, the collection was to be a classic airdrop. Token sales were to start at a certain amount and drop. The starting price for one Azuki was 1 ETH at the time. It was to drop every 20 minutes and eventually reach a ceiling of 0.15 ETH.
During the public sale, the project released 8 700 unique NFT Azuki for sale, at a price of 1 ETH. This means that the creators “raked in” as much as 8 700 ETH. At the time, this was a value of approximately USD 29 million. They achieved their success on the first day of the sale. A day later, the project launched a private sale, where tokens were sold at 0.5 ETH each. This generated revenue of around USD 2 million.
You may be wondering – why such a quick sale and interest in the collection? Most likely, it was due to the influencers who were actively working on the project and the community. Nevertheless, all the capital raised during the first sale led investors to believe in the unlimited possibilities of Azuki NFT.
The start of the project was perfect. A few weeks later, the entire value of the Azuki NFT collection reached around USD 300 million. Such a good start resulted in a rapid increase in the value of the non-exchangeable token collection. Azuki quickly won the hearts of NFT enthusiasts, becoming the leader of the local market for non-exchangeable tokens.
The creators of Azuki NFT had a vision. They wanted to create the largest, decentralised, community-owned Metaverse brand. However, after abundant years, the collection came to a standstill. Its creator has been linked to numerous scandals and other highly controversial NFT projects. Did the scandal unequivocally contribute to the collection’s popularity?
Azuki NFT’s popularity and the controversy surrounding the collection
Azuki NFT’s popularity can also be attributed to the date it was released. In 2022, many NFT projects were incredibly successful. However, its success was shaken in early May 2022. This is when Zagabond published a rather controversial post on his blog. It treated his previous NFT collections, which unfortunately ended in failure.
It was then that it came to light that Zagabond was the creator of now-defunct projects such as Tendies, CryptoZunks and CryptoPhunks. His confession was one of the biggest faux-pas in the history of the NFT, which triggered an avalanche of unforeseen events.
The founder of Azuka NFT was accused of withholding information. It didn’t stop there. The community accused him of conducting wash deals and fraud linked to previous collections. The mood around Azuki NFT began to thicken, and this dragged NFT prices down.
The magic of bitterness overflowed on 10 May when Zagabond took part in an interview with Andrew Wang. He began to deny the allegations against him and defended himself in many ways. He justified his actions by blaming it on…the lack of a general set of rules for NFT developers to follow.
Developers who had worked with Zagabond on previous projects shared very different experiences. A few of them even glossed over the assertion that his previous collections were simple, premeditated scams. The former leader of CryptoZunks accused Zagabond of dishonesty, failing to communicate what was happening with the project and, ultimately, abandoning the project.
Black clouds began to gather over the Azuki NFT collection. The creator issued an official apology via Twitter (currently: X), but members of the community were not happy with his behaviour.
Azuki Beanz Collection
In April 2022, Azuki introduced another collection: Azuki Beanz, which is the largest extension of Azuki NFT to date. It is a collection of 20,000 non-exchangeable tokens that original Azuki NFT holders received free of charge. Beanz holders received access to a limited Discord channel, created just for holders of the original collection.
Bobu tokens
Chiru Labs has also created a management token – Bobu. It was created in honour of Azuki #40, Bobu the Bean Farmer. Bobu is a management token, used internally only. It is not used for trading.
There are 11,244 Bob tokens that allow the community to vote on proposals and provide access to closed Discord channels.
Hilumia, or Azuki in the Metaverse
To celebrate its first anniversary, Azuki has unveiled its virtual world, Hilumia. The meta-world they present features interactive multimedia experiences, games, community, comics, or animations that can only be accessed by Azuki and Beanz owners. Hilumia has 10 different locations.
The year 2023 is a fruitful one for Azuka. In April this year. Chiru Labs announced a partnership with IPX, a brand that has worked with Starbucks, Netflix and BTS. This is a huge milestone for Azuki. In addition to expanding its community, Azuki, through this partnership, can enter the world of Web2 and Web3 with momentum.
Summary
Despite the controversy, the Azuki NFT collection continues to grow and succeed. What will happen to it next? Time will tell. No doubt, the creators have a plan and a mission they want to pursue with it.
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