Glossary
Azuki
A 10,000-piece anime-style NFT collection by Chiru Labs launched January 2022 — defined the second wave of culturally-influential PFP collections.
Azuki launched on Ethereum on January 12, 2022, selling out in under four minutes and instantly becoming one of the highest-volume NFT collections. The anime aesthetic distinguished it sharply from the Western-cartoon style of contemporaneous collections.
The Azuki team launched Beanz (a free companion collection), the Elementals collection (controversial for diluting the original), a manga book, and the Azuki HQ flagship Tokyo store. Azuki remains a core blue-chip alongside BAYC, CryptoPunks, and Pudgy Penguins.