Original Author: Pedro Herrera
Original compilation: Blockchain World
Azuki was auctioned in the Netherlands in January 2022, and the unit price of 1 ETH was sold out within 1 minute. Just one month after its launch, it became the 10th most traded NFT project, generating over 105,000 ETH ($300 million) in trade volume at the time of writing.
Azuki consists of 10,000 anime-style NFTs that provide access to a community-owned virtual world called The Garden. The Azuki Collection presents itself as a brand in the virtual world, promoting media and identity in the field. The project is so popular that there has been a wave of hype surrounding this NFT niche.
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Over $300 million traded in one month
Azuki's team includes: a Chiru Labs team with a rich background in encryption and technology; the design of HOSHIBOY has two Y-Combinator project incubation experience; animation enthusiast artists STEAMBOY and JOO are the art director of Overwatch and the manga of Japanese IP Street Fighter respectively , GENGHISKW is a happy Hong Kong Canadian boy by day and a ninja artist by night.
Meanwhile Azuki's red beans are in high demand, and art inspired by the Japanese anime series Cowboy Bebop has become one of the most popular in the field.
It is the above two factors that raise the value of the Azuki project to a new height.
In the 40 days since its launch, Azuki has generated more than $300 million in transaction volume, making it the 10th most traded collectible in the entire NFT space, while surpassing projects such as Doodles, Cool Cats, and CyberKongz. The floor price of the series is at least 1,000% higher than the mint price, and is stabilizing above 10 ETH.
Also, Azuki is a widely distributed series. It has 5,422 unique owners and attracted over 10,900 unique traders. Only 14% of the entire series is listed on OpenSea. These indicators confirm that the item is entering high demand.
One aspect of Azuki that remains overlooked is the enablement of ERC-721A contracts. For the first time in recorded history, the ERC standard allows multiple items to be minted in a single transaction, benefiting the community by reducing gas. The team has open-sourced the smart contract standard, demonstrating its affinity for the community.
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Which attribute characteristics affect the price
The most important way to evaluate NFT collections is to understand the uniqueness of individual NFTs, analyzing the individual characteristics that make the collection unique. The following analysis is based on the volume of 12,000 recent transactions.
Azuki consists of 12 traits and over 450 unique attributes, where each NFT is attributed to one of four types. Thus, type characteristics have a strong correlation with asset prices. Spirit spirits are the rarest type of Azuki (0.97% rarity), with an average selling price of 60.6 ETH ($165,000). Only 21 of them are listed on OpenSea with a base price of 80 ETH. Average transaction prices for blue (4.44%) and red (4.41%) types have fallen sharply, although they are still rare. Humanoid (90.18%) is the most common of the series and thus the easiest to obtain, with an average selling price of 7.86 ETH ($22,000).
In addition to the type, a set of attributes also greatly affects the price of these NFTs. This is the series of 313 items that carry gold items, necks, clothes, and off-hand attributes that we want to focus on. Any Azuki with gold properties sold for an average of 28.1 ETH ($76,000), while NFTs without gold items sold for a little over 8 ETH ($24,000).
Special features also have a big impact on the price of each Azuki. The Firefly (0.88%) and Fire (0.58%) feature series received the highest ratings. The average selling price for both types of Azuki is around 30 ETH (over $80,000). Although Sakura (0.8%), Fox Fire (0.86%), and Smoke (0.81%) have an average selling price at the 15 ETH ($40,000) mark, their average selling price is higher than that of Azuki NFT (93.71%) without special features , with an average selling price of 7.92 ETH ($23,000).
Wearing off-hands and clothing attributes also have a clear correlation with price. However, in the case of offhand, the interdependence with price is mainly due to 19 golden offhand properties, 9 of which have an average selling price above 25 ETH. Water Orb (0.61%) is the only off-hand that doesn't have a gold feature and sells for more than 20 ETH.
From the perspective of 98 clothing attributes, the four golden clothing directly affect the price of NFT. These golden Kigurumis are one of the rarest attribute types, with cats (0.05%) being the rarest. Azukis without clothes (0.05%) is also one of the most expensive pieces in the collection, with an average price of 78.66 ETH ($208,000).
Hair features follow a similar pattern. Azukis without hair (0.08%) or those with spirit-type-specific hair designs outperformed the rest of the line. Azukis without hair sold for an average of 30.69 ETH ($82,000), while Spirit hair sold for between 42.7 ETH ($116,000) and 76.5 ETH ($210,000). Fire (0.22%) and water (0.21%) hair cost an average of 29 ETH ($77,000). The remaining hair properties sell for between 3.2 ETH ($9,000) and 15.2 ETH ($40,000).
Certain attributes affect price. For example, red beans (0.4%), an ear feature associated with the brand’s origins, netted an average of 27.2 ETH ($75,000). The remaining ear features sell for between 7.7 ETH ($22,000) and 15.3 ETH ($41,000).
Gold headphones (0.35%) have outperformed other neck attributes so far, with an average selling price of nearly 40 ETH ($110,000). In contrast, the average transaction price of the remaining neck properties is between 7.65 ETH ($22,000) and 16 ETH ($44,000).
Prices for Fire (0.57%), Lightning (0.46%), and Glow (0.78%) eyes also seem to stand out from the other eye stats. The average selling price for these three eyes is more than 18.4 ETH ($50,000), while other eye features are priced between 6.9 ETH ($20,000) and 12.4 ETH ($34,000).
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Branding in the virtual world
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Azuki's mind map; source: Azuki
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Community in the "Garden"
According to Chiru Labs, The Garden is a corner of the internet where art, community and culture come together to create magic. This digital space is built for the Azuki community and plans to host a DAO governed by its native BEAN token.
The series' social metrics are solid. Azuki has nearly 200,000 followers on Twitter and 80,000 Discord members. Both platforms are active and functioning efficiently. The project's Discord server opens up conversations on various topics and is protected with mechanisms to prevent scam and bot activity.
in conclusion
in conclusion
Azuki has quickly established itself as one of the most coveted collectibles in the NFT space and has proven to be an excellent acquisition for some. Inspired by Japanese anime, the skateboarder art style has seen demand for the item explode, creating a hype cycle in the anime NFT market. Strong financial indicators are closely related to the demand of the project, and the current floor price is stable above 10 ETH.
Through the characteristics and rarity distribution, it is clear how much the artist has put in these NFTs, which is also their uniqueness. Azuki NFT transactions of over 100 ETH have become the norm, with a peak sale of 204 ETH or $596,000 ten days ago.
Overall, the project seems to validate all the criteria for a successful NFT project. Although the mind map lacked more tangible information, it felt like the project appropriately approached the narrative of the virtual world. The fashion aspect is especially alluring. Despite the already high barriers to entry, The Garden promises to be a relevant space for the future of NFTs.
The Chinese translation of this article is compiled by "Blockchain World". Please view the complete Chinese translation on the official account: MyBlockWorld.
