Hi, today we're going to take apart one of the top collections that managed to create a strong ecosystem, got the Blue Chip title, created the ERC721A standard, started a new trend in Anime PFP NFTs, and how it almost died because of a mistake.
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All information in this article is current at the time of publication. The text contains a huge number of links to various sources, items on marketplaces, wallets, etc. If you see underlined text, feel free to click on it, for example here.
History
Team
The secret of success
Conclusion
The first tweet from Azuki appeared on November 15. It was a 24-second video that showed several NFTs.
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1460337104391528449?s=20&t=TDw8h1qE9rU3QfImg8kXPg
In the first month of its existence Azuki received support from famous and influential people. In December, the collection shows cinematic videos.
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1468641733210566658?s=20&t=TDw8h1qE9rU3QfImg8kXPg
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1468729793801691137?s=20&t=TDw8h1qE9rU3QfImg8kXPg
January was very productive for Azuki. It was the peak of the collection's popularity, everyone wanted to get a WhiteList in this project and get their NFT. At the beginning of the month there was information about the plans and values of the collection.
🌄 Vision & Values
Vision: To create the largest decentralized brand for the metaverse that is built and owned by the community.
Values: 1/ Community first 2/ Dope sh*t only 3/ Trust the process
👥 COMMUNITY
Full-time moderationMods help protect and grow our community, the most valuable part of Azuki. We've recently brought on a group of paid full-time and part-time mods. In an effort to professionalize community management in the NFT space, Azuki mods have daily calls within the Community and Product teams, work set hours, take regular breaks, and spend time off-screen.
Azuki GrantsINCalling all builders, artists, and creatives. The Garden is full of talented human beans that want to use their skills and passion for Azuki to create additive things for the community. Azuki will empower and provide grants to excellent members with great ideas through a grants program. We are working through the legal framework and application process.
Community SpacesINFrom casual hangouts to heartfelt stories, we have seen community-run spaces sprout all over Twitter. These forums are important places to grow the connective tissue of our community. See you at the next Red Bean Soup, or any of the other great spaces that are hosted by Azuki holders.
🌐 Metaverse
Azuki 3D: For Azuki, 3D means much more than simply making a 2D avatar 3D. We aim to create an immersive 3D experience when the time is right.
Digital Drip: If you're on #TeamAzuki, you'll be dripped out in the metaverse from head to toe.
🧥 Physical World
Streetwear: Expect exclusive drops in perpetuity
Physical collectibles: Figurines, toys, skateboards
IRL events: Meet-ups, exhibits, music festivals, & more
🌉 The Bridge Between
The bridge between the physical and digital world presents a playground to create a new type of media. Here we will experiment with meta-games, interactive experiences, and unique ways to grow an IP.
🌱 Seedlings
Ideas we're considering:
Partnerships: Take existing web2 IP which we know and love and revive them in web3, Azuki style.
$BEAN: A native currency to be used in the Azuki-verse.
DAO: Experimentation with governance structures to create an everlasting brand.
📝 Your Ideas
"Human history is, in essence, a history of ideas." - H.G. Wells
What ideas do you have for Azuki? Let's write history together.
The next big news this month was the mint date of the collection.
And perhaps most important is the announcement of the new NFT ERC721A standard. Azuki has developed a new algorithm that, for the first time in the NFT space, allows creating multiple NFTs at almost the same cost as creating a single NFT.
Ethereum prices have been high for months, prompting development teams to adapt. When multiple tokens are minted, the required cost of gas is proportional to the number of tokens being minted. ERC721A has three key optimizations that significantly reduce the need for additional gas.
On January 12, Azuki was minted and all NFTs with a starting price of 1 ETH were sold in less than 30 minutes. The minimum price on the secondary market immediately began to rise and Azuki took the first place in terms of volume on OpenSea.
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1481326232427909120?s=20
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1483507826718691328?s=20
February for Azuki was a month of record sales and new influential people among the holders of the collection. At the beginning of the month NFT number #4588 was bought for 90 ETH ($264,254).
https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0xed5af388653567af2f388e6224dc7c4b3241c544/4588
A week later the record was updated and NFT number #4841 was bought for 150 ETH ($400,080).
https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0xed5af388653567af2f388e6224dc7c4b3241c544/4841
On February 23 Azuki will be announcing a new collection. It will be a token in the amount of 20,000 copies. Ownership of the token will mean ownership of the NFT part number #40. This is the main character of the Azuki universe, Bobu Farmer. The price for one token is 0.01 ETH.
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1496585348536692739?s=20
https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0xed5af388653567af2f388e6224dc7c4b3241c544/40
In early March, Bobu tokens were minted and peaked at 0.37 ETH ($1250).
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1500558814277476357?s=20
The Azuki team has been busy all of March with a holding event for the collection in Los Angeles and so not a lot of announcements came out, but it was announced at the event that there was an airdrop waiting for the holders.
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1508514859415089153?s=20
After the success of two collections, the team decided to launch a third and possibly final collection called "BEANZ".
BEANZ - This is a collection that was a very strong splash of excitement. Each holder of the main collection received two new NFTs of the second collection on March 31. At the time of this article's release, the maximum price was 5.1 ETH, which is about $14,000.
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1510366463521030147?s=20
The team never ceases to amaze and sends 2,000 Bobu tokens ($1,000,000) to the International Space Station (ISS) for 31 days. During this time, Bobu will explore his interest in intergalactic sake.
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1515430686496202756?s=20
That same month also sees the announcement of Azuki's merch collection.
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1518288152397443074?s=20
On the night of May 9-10, Azuki, known as ZAGABOND.ETH, posted an article on his Twitter page, in which he told us about his past collections. The post immediately went viral on Twitter and all social networks, a lot of holders doubted their purchases and started selling their NFTs.
Before Azuki, ZAGABOND worked on CryptoPhunks, Tendies and CryptoZunks. All three of these projects were launched within eight months. Yep, and all of them are scandalously famous, as evidenced by the tweets of the projects' participants.
The community was very indignant at what they read, so you could see a sharp decline in flor on Azuki. At the moment, the price is gradually returning to previous positions.
Amid this revelation, the minimum price was dropping to 7 ETH, but it was quickly bought back. As a result, the collection was able to recover almost completely due to its strong community.
https://twitter.com/ZAGABOND/status/1523775812893249537?s=20&t=BimAbSkcjAUa5gcXN9DqFQ
The same month Azuki creates quality merch of their collection, a $2,000 double-sided jacket.
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1527787187353202688?s=20&t=zRTVWlB5WJrKqTSyjhAp0A
Azuki held another party in NY. The location was decorated in Japanese style. Anyone could get in, even those who didn't have an NFT.
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1541929986327777281?s=20&t=zRTVWlB5WJrKqTSyjhAp0A
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1541930020544954368?s=20&t=zRTVWlB5WJrKqTSyjhAp0A
Azuki has created a limited edition of nine gold skateboards: custom-made, precision-milled and fully plated in 24-karat gold. Each skateboard is fully functional and features an exquisitely detailed gold dragon. It also weighs 45 pounds. Since September, Azuki began using PBT technology, a physical cryptographic chip that independently generates a pair of asymmetric keys, in their physical items.
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1582057971739025420?s=20&t=zRTVWlB5WJrKqTSyjhAp0A
The skateboard auction ran out and all items sold for between 300 and 200 ETH.
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1586123001694543872?s=20&t=zRTVWlB5WJrKqTSyjhAp0A
Azuki and Ambush collaborated in November. The Azuki x AMBUSH set includes:
Black hoodie (with PBT support).
Cloud hoodie (with PBT support)
Pendant with silver dragon
Pendant with gold dragon
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1589618859127894016?s=20&t=zRTVWlB5WJrKqTSyjhAp0A
Azuki was created by a group of artists and developers from Chiru Labs. According to the official website, they have experience working for large tech companies such as Facebook and Google, as well as experience in games. The group consists of pseudonymous members 2pm.flow, location tba, HoshiBoy, and is headed by ex-big tech entrepreneur Zagabond.
Focusing on the Asian market Azuki made an emphasis on anime themes. It occupied an important niche in the field of NFT - anime - and became the standard for hundreds of projects after it. The avatars are aesthetically pleasing and, according to Zagabond, simply "resonate" with viewers, especially in Asia, where anime is much more popular.
https://twitter.com/AzukiOfficial/status/1571898908913324032?s=20&t=eGddGMkRW_VBb7-Fx0Bm2A
Despite Zagabond's unfortunate past path, the team created the new NFT ERC721A standard. This technology is actively used by new collections on the Ethereum blockchain and is updated by the team, the standard has over two thousand stars on Github. Azuki solved one of the most important blockchain problems and saved people a huge amount of ETH.
Like every successful NFT collection, Azuki pays attention to the community. One of the surprises for holders was the Beanz Collection Air Drop, the new collection really had value and demand. Another important factor is the community meetings, the team takes care of the events and arranges them at a very high level. And of course the merch, every owner can now wear their favorite collection on their clothes.
Azuki may not have originally been intended to be a collection that would receive the Blue Chip title, but past experience has given the creator insight into the structure of creating a successful NFT collection.
Azuki today is a fledgling ecosystem that will show its development in the future, the collection is less than a year old. So we will hope and believe that the creators will still be able to surprise the community and show a cool result.
Thank you for reading to the end. I hope this article has given you some new insights into this beautiful project.
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