Bankless: What surprises will Azuki's upcoming ANIME token bring

Author: William M. Peaster, Bankless; Translator: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

Last year, I wrote an article about how Azuki became a contributor to Animecoin and AnimeChain as part of its Anime 2.0 project, which aims to build a new type of open anime world.

Not surprisingly, I pointed out at the time that the launch of this token and network could be a huge catalyst for the Azuki ecosystem.

Fast forward to today, we finally know more about the $ANIME token.

Last weekend, the Animecoin team announced that it will launch its $ANIME Token Generation Event (TGE) later this month.

As the creators explain:

“ANIME is a culture coin - a movement to transform 1 billion anime fans into a community-owned creative network. Here, passion becomes power, cultural energy becomes real value, and the boundaries between consumers and creators disappear.”

As for the token economics, we know that the total supply will be 10 billion, with 7.69 billion $ANIME in initial circulation.

The token will also be launched on Ethereum and Arbitrum, with the following allocation:

The 37.5% allocation to Azuki community holders is quite substantial. In comparison, 25.9% of the recent $PENGU airdrop was allocated to Pudgy Penguin community holders.

Also worth noting:

• 24.44% of $ANIME will be distributed to the Animecoin Foundation to support ecosystem development

• 13% will go to a community-managed treasury via the AnimeDAO

• 2% will go to partner projects such as Arbitrum, Hyperliquid, and the Kaito Community

While no exact release date has been announced, there’s no doubt the drop will be big.

For example, the current market cap of the Pudgy Penguins NFT is $610 million, while the market cap of the new $PENGU token has climbed to $1.8 billion — the more fungible, the more holders, right.

By analogy, the current market cap of the Azuki NFT is $414 million. A rough estimate suggests that if $ANIME follows $PENGU’s early growth trajectory, it could reach a market cap of $1.2 billion in its first month.

This brings us to the question of the long-term outlook.

The thing about $ANIME is that its creators envision it not only as a token for the Azuki ecosystem, but as a rising community token for the entire global anime fanbase.

It’s ambitious to say the least, but this is the Anime 2.0 Master Plan, centered around the upcoming $ANIME, anime.com, and Arbitrum Orbit-powered AnimeChain pillars.

The Big Idea?

Build an ecosystem where fans can raise funds on-chain to co-create new anime universes, so they can co-own the IP and profit from any related releases as a community.

We’ll see how this vision pans out, but there’s no doubt the demand will be there. There are over 1 billion anime viewers worldwide, and the global anime market is currently over $50 billion.

If $ANIME and its surrounding infrastructure can make headway here, and anime’s popularity in general continues to rise, this community token could become a mainstay in the top 100 cryptocurrencies long term.

In the meantime, we’ll have to wait for a release date to be announced. For now, keep an eye on how the main Azuki series performs before the much-anticipated airdrop arrives.