Azuki NFTs was released on 12 January 2022 by four people based out of Los Angeles. They initially issued 8,700 NFTs. These are NFT anime-style characters called “azukis”. Their starting price was around $3,400 per NFT. The entire collection sold out within minutes, with sales of over $29 million. Some sets of Azuki NFTs sold for about $2 million. The second sale took place in a private offering soon after the release of the initial collection. By the second week of February, Azuki NFTs reached $300 million in terms of transaction volume in popular NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea. While the most expensive Azukis now have a trade value of half a million, the cheaper ones cost around $36,000. In just one month, the total sales of Azuki NFT have taken tokens such as Cryptopunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club.
