If worth was a contest within the NFT world, Azuki’s Beanz could be the perennial winners. Whereas the gathering isn’t essentially the least costly in the marketplace, it acts as a extra reasonably priced entry into the favored Azuki group, providing house owners a strategy to benefit from the mission’s premium options at a fraction of the price. Along with a holders-only Discord channel within the Azuki server, Beanz holders get entry to unique merchandise, collectible drops, and utilities inside the Azuki metaverse.
For a lot of of those causes, and regardless of being a comparatively new assortment, the Beanz Project has change into probably the most sought-after within the house. Beanz NFTs have already achieved spectacular buying and selling quantity, at the moment holding the 15th spot for all-time trade volume in Ethereum on the time of writing and often rating within the prime 10 in each day commerce quantity.
Able to dig in? Right here’s the whole lot it’s essential know in regards to the staff, the characters, and the way forward for Beanz.
What are Beanz?
Beanz is a hand-drawn 19,950-strong PFP NFT assortment consisting of 16 kinds of Beanz. Every Bean has a novel set of attributes starting from clothes, headgear, footwear, hand props, and extra, for a complete of 568 attributes. Probably the most well-known ones are the unique Beanz members — the crimson bean, Toshi, and the blue bean, Gus. Others within the assortment embody Hyperlink the black bean, Tao the lentil, Johny C the espresso bean, and extra.
The Beanz are the lifetime of the Azuki Garden — a non-public digital world the place “artwork, group, and tradition fuse to create magic” — spicing issues up for Azukis with their antics. In accordance with the mission’s official website, “Beanz are a small species that sprouts from the grime within the backyard. They make for an awesome sidekick to an Azuki, though some wish to kick it alone. They’re earnestly pushed by the need to assist. Nonetheless, sure Beanz really feel a calling to pave their very own path.”
Certainly, every has its own unique story to inform. For instance, “Gus can’t appear to remain out of bother, and “Ash is probably the most relaxed bean within the backyard. Nothing appears to faze him, and he’s all the time calm within the time of chaos.”
On the time of writing, the mission has registered a complete traded quantity of 135,199 ETH ($269 million). It at the moment instructions a ground worth of 1.46 ETH.
Who created Beanz NFTs?
The creator of the Beanz mission is Chiru Labs, led by founder Zagabond and fellow pseudonymous co-founders Hoshiboy, 2PMFlow, and Location tba. The staff consists of a bunch of Los Angeles-based artists and builders with backgrounds in crypto, expertise, and gaming.
Notably, Azuki founder Zagabond was met with backlash following a Could 2022 revelation that he had been behind disbanded initiatives Tendies, CryptoZunks, and CryptoPhunks. However, the controversy ultimately benefited the Azuki assortment. As criticism compelled the ground worth to drop, traders rushed in to money in on the chance, with the Azuki group ultimately rising by a whopping 1200 %.
When was the Beanz mission launched?
The Beanz had been launched in April 2022, scorching on the heels of the launch of the Azuki assortment in January of the identical yr. On the onset, solely two Beanz had sprouted, Toshi, the crimson bean, and Gus, the blue bean. They had been airdropped to Azuki house owners as tokens of thanks. Thus far, Beanz can’t be purchased by the Azuki web site, solely from third-party platforms like OpenSea and X2Y2.
Controversy across the Beanz mission
Quickly after the Beanz mission was unveiled, a number of Twitter users —together with MetaMorphy — started to accuse the creators of fixing the mint, saying customers obtained maintain of uncommon Azuki Beanz even earlier than the mission metadata was revealed. Particularly, MetaMorphy factors to proof displaying a buyer had bought 4 widespread Beanz NFTs after which acquired two uncommon Beanz NFTs above the ground worth a number of hours earlier than the precise reveal was made.
MetaMorphy says Bean #13716 — mentioned to be the thirty seventh rarest Beanz NFT — was one of many Beanz acquired by alleged insider buying and selling. The Bean is at the moment valued at 5.4066 WETH and was bought for a excessive of 5.79 WETH.
In a Twitter thread, Location Tba denied these claims. He famous that the exercise suggests the mission’s metadata was leaked earlier than it went reside, and “no insider buying and selling occurred.”
What’s subsequent?
With over a yr’s value of expertise, a rising IP, and love from the group, there isn’t a query that the Azuki staff has established itself as a model that’s right here to remain. The Beanz assortment has proved an essential subsequent step for the staff.
Most lately, Chiru Labs introduced a strategic partnership with digital IP platform firm IPX (previously Line Buddies). Followers and holders can anticipate co-branded content material and merch between Beanz and LINE Buddies, retail distribution at Line Buddies shops, and immersive IRL activations that mix the 2 worlds.
Because the Azuki and Beanz communities proceed to construct The Backyard and add layers to what already seems to be a fascinating place to find, so does the sense of belonging and shared function amongst its group members. The extra The Backyard grows, the stronger the sense of group turns into.