Earlier today, Azuki had a big announcement:
Iâm not an Azuki holder, but as each month passes, Iâll admit that my FOMO grows. Itâs clear to me that the team is doing some interesting things as a product, brand, and for the broader Web3 space.
Though I donât have the insight of a holder, itâs nice to have an outsiderâs POV on whatâs going on.
Much to unpack, but letâs backtrack for the folks who arenât familiar with Azuki. TLDR:
AlrightâŠ
Azuki Collectorâs Profiles
Last Friday, Azuki introduced the Azuki Collector Profile
Introducing the Azuki Collectorâs Profile: a web3-native showcase for the Azuki universe. đ Earn badges đŒïž Display your NFTs đŠ Participate in upcoming drops Set up your profile now: azuki.com/collector
The tweet above lays out the benefits of a Collector Profile vs. a Profile Picture, and Iâll expand on that some more.
Profile pic NFTs are great, and thatâs what started the explosion and popularity of NFTs over the past year. However, the novelty of sporting your favorite animal or character as your identity has died down as consumers realizing that was more of a fad.
What does a NFT as a profile picture provide today?
Digital identity
Social status if itâs part of a more valuable collection
A creative way to express yourself online
A Collector profile allows for the above capabilities and more. Itâs a microsite that:
Displays your profile in a richer format
Shows all your Azuki ecosystem NFTs
Shares the Collectorâs badges and accomplishments
Connects to the wallet address which verifies ownership
Going deeper with some pretty pics
Profile pictures are static
You can flaunt your NFT as your profile pic, but thatâs about it. If you want to customize it you can, but the real estate is a constraint.
Users are making their profile picture fit the platformâs creative constraints.
Azuki has created a profile page FOR their holders in a complementary fashion.
Itâs also mobile optimized đ (matters more than you think)
Badges and Achievements
This feature is a tale as old as time. Badges are common in any progression-oriented products like gaming and learning.
Duolingo, one of the premier language learning apps, has a rich badge system to encourage engagement.
The list is much longer than the screenshot lol, but Iâll spare us all :)
What do badges do?
Badges historically didnât have much purpose besides as a tool for companies to incentivize their user base to be more engaged.
Azuki will benefit from that, but plans to make them more than an embellishment to a profile.
Verifying Ownership
The Azuki website has a Gallery feature that also links to the collectorâs profile:
Icedcoffee đ§â @IcedcoffeeEth
Hereâs a live look at the Gallery
If I click on the first AzukiâŠ
The Collectorâs profile link is at the bottom. Click on that, and itâll take you to the Collector profile page.
This person has a lot of Azuki NFTs đ„”
Geez TPan, the title for todayâs piece is PBTs and youâve been blabbering about Collector profiles, WTF
Ok ok, so this is whatâs going on with the Collector Profiles:
Considering this is V1 of Collector profiles, I expect there will be more updates. Some ideas and predictions:
More customizability with the Collector page profile
Allow for Beanz companions to show up on the shoulder of the featured Azuki on the profile banner
Show multiple Azukis on the profile banner
No-code tools for customizing the profile banner? Might be a big technical lift though
More integrations with the Azuki-verse
If Azuki creates their own marketplace, Collector profiles will become more useful for security purposes
Benefits and rewards based on Collectorâs badges and achievements. This has already been hinted at
If there is a game, each Azuki could have its own achievements: âCurrently questingâ, ranks and levels, etc.
For the NFT space more broadly, what Azuki has done with Collector Pages is something to watch closely. Theyâre creating their own platform that allows for a richer experience.
Do you have a profile? If so, use your profile to share or subscribe!
Azukiâs PBTs (Physical Backed Tokens)
Alright, back to what was supposed to be the main topic of todayâs piece lol. Letâs bring that announcement tweet back:
(am I the first person to create a Substack piece that references the same tweet twice? Do I get a Substack badge for that?)
GeezâŠI just rewatched the announcement video and got chills down the spine.
IMO this is great marketing, but also makes me more confident that one of the leading use cases of NFTs will be through physical goods (along with Music, Gaming, Ticketing, and Loyalty)
Breaking down the announcement:
PBT = Physical Backed Token
PBT uses the BEAN Chip, creating an experience called âscan-to-ownâ
If the physical item is transferred to a new owner (via sale or gift), the new owner can scan-to-own the same physical item, enabling the transfer of the PBT as well
The ownership of the physical goods provides access to digital experiences, not just the other way around.
The Azuki team has open sourced the PBT standard so others can build with and upon it.
This isnât the first time the team has created something for the broader space. They created a new NFT minting contract that significantly reduced gas costs.
This announcement immediately reminded me of RTFKTâs Phygital Forging event that happened last month. Iâm not familiar with the tech behind this, but it seems Azukiâs scan-to-own (S2O) concept is built in a way that embraces and acknowledges that transactional nature of this space and facilitates that effectively.
Like other phygital goods, PBTs create interesting use cases:
In addition, having a mobile wallet is not a requirement, allowing for users that arenât familiar with NFTs to participate and own.
Lastly, I want to give a nod to the Azuki team for creating some new terms.
Itâs ironic that Iâm thanking them for more acronyms in the already confusing Web3 space. However, thereâs been a sense of dissatisfaction with the term âphygitalâ, including on my end. Others have replaced the term with âdigital twinâ, which Iâm not satisfied with either. Itâs too long.
Iâm not sure if the terms will be broadly adopted, but I believe theyâre more intuitive:
Physical Backed Token (PBT)
An acronym that incorporates âtokenâ, which many understand: NFT (non-fungible token), SBT (soul-bound token)
The term indicates that there is a link between the physical and the digital (âtokenâ)
Scan-to-Own (S2O)
Everyone understands how scanning works: QR codes, ticketing, grocery store checkout
Scanning = purchasing or capturing something, this concept is the same
So bringing this all together, why might happen with Azukiâs PBTs?
Create richer experiences in the physical and digital space
Quests in both the digital and physical spaces
Collector profiles can update with badges that require a physical component
Collector profile banners can update based on PBTs owned
Enable the transfer of assets more seamlessly and to new audiences
Onboarding new audiences that donât have Web3 wallets but are interested in the physical goods. From there, this audience is introduced to Azukiâs digital ecosystem
Authentication and ownership of the PBTs
Expansion of the Azuki ecosystem
There will be an additional dimension of the Azuki community to understand: Who will participate in physical quests, who will purchase the PBTs? Who will trade PBTs and under what circumstances?
More ways to engage and grow the Azuki brand
Whew, Iâm still trying to wrap my head around this but these announcements get me excited to see how the physical and digital worlds create a 1+1=3 type of experience.
Hats off to Azuki for building in the space and sharing these resources publicly. Letâs see what comes from it.
See you tomorrow!
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