Since their reveal in April, BEANZ have lived quietly in the shadow of their parent collection: Azuki.

In the past month we’ve seen a steady 79% increase in floor price of BEANZ NFTs, with a rapid run up to 1.36Ξ floor price in the past day.

What could be causing this price action? Are there big things on the horizon? Here’s five reasons why BEANZ will steal the limelight in the coming years.

Infinite Branding Potential

To begin with, we must address the most obvious reason: the design of BEANZ is brilliant.

Since reveal, BEANZ have quickly become a major component in the greater Azuki universe. While anime-styled profile pictures may not appeal to all audiences, the aesthetic of BEANZ certainly can. It’s impossible not to find a characteristic that matches the needs of users across all demographics and interests. The “cuteness” factor easily appeals to all age groups.

In addition to profile-picture use, we’ve also seen examples of branding emerge in the space from community members with use cases such as retailing products including tea, coffee, clothing as well as entertainment brands.

Each flavor (color) of BEANZ has a different personality. With twelve different personalities to be exact, the possibilities are endless. With a supply of 20,000 we’ve only just scratched the surface of what’s possible to be built in the space.

Builders are incentivized to use their BEANZ IP to immediately capitalize on the reach and exposure of the greater Azuki community, instead of spinning up their own logos/mascots.

Word is, the community is strong, NGL.

Chiru Labs Continues to Deliver

When buying an NFT from a collection, you are purchasing more than just a nice looking jpeg. Or at least, you should strive to.

You are buying the web3 equivalent of stock in a company, and will be rewarded as the company continues to expand. Of the crop of web3 companies, there may be none more promising than Chiru labs.

Despite the tone of the bear market over the course of the last year, Chiru Labs has continued prioritize innovation:

The ERC721A standard has been a huge contribution to the NFT space. The Physical Backed Token is another budding technology that may very well transform the future NFT landscape, but more on that later.

Bottom line: It’s hard not to be enthusiastic about the future of innovation from Chiru Labs. Projects that embody the ethos of innovation are the ones we must support.

The Community Remains Strong

No matter the short term price action of a project, the voice of the community can speak volumes. Many projects have seen liquidity dry up throughout 2022 and lost many community members. The opposite seems true for Azuki in recent months.

Events are happening all over the world including New York, Japan and Taiwan. Web3 paves the way for global coordination of communities like never before. In this realm, the Azuki community has again led the way.

The previously exclusive Garden chat on the Azuki Discord server is now open to both BEANZ and Azuki holders. Further unifying the greater Azuki community as we head into 2023. Quantifying community vibes is difficult, but appears to be up only.

Anime Identity and a Companion to Azuki

As a creative medium, Anime has been expanding faster than ever in recent years. Netflix alone has brought over 40 titles to their platform and reports that over 50% of global viewers streamed anime last year.

It goes without saying that Azuki is undoubtedly the king of Anime collections in web3. There will be others in the space, but it’s becoming clear that Azuki will be likely be the largest player in the future. As such, a loyal companion to the Azuki identity is called for.

BEANZ make much more than just companions, although their potential for identity in the future of web3 has yet to be fully explored. One thing seems clear - Anime-styled art will continue to be in demand.

Lowering the Barrier to Entry

Nearing one year after the reveal of Azuki, floor prices have continued to remain strong from 10-13Ξ. This is down about 70% from all time highs of over 30Ξ back in April of 2021. Despite the significant drawdown, the barrier of over $15,000 (in today’s prices) to join the garden can be intimidating.

Enter, BEANZ.

After today’s post-Christmas rally, BEANZ currently sit at a floor of 1.36Ξ.

Certainly much more appealing to those looking to fully enter the Azuki community. The decision to fractionalize Azuki #40 (Bobu) has become essentially the stepping stone for gaining exposure to Azuki.

Start with Bobu, then BEANZ…

The increased supply and lower floor price makes Azuki feel less exclusive. This is without a doubt necessary for future adoption.

In Conclusion

BEANZ represent all the best of the Azuki Universe and at a fraction of the price of their parent collection. They are infinitely brandable and appeal to an even wider population to use for identity, in a world that is more and more accepting of anime-esque design.

The barrier to entry may not remain this low forever. It’s likely we may see the team release BEANZ-centric content in the near future, which has not been done as of yet.

In the words of Zagabond, the best may be yet to come.

IKZ!