Beanz Unveil “Mind of Gus” Vinyl Toys With Physical Backed Token

Chiru Labs, the parent company behind Azuki and its underlying BEANZ brand, announced the launch of “Mind of Gus,” a limited edition vinyl toy that will be raffled off on Nov. 2, in collaboration with Hong Kong-based creative director, SK Lam.

BEANZ, which launched in April 2022, is a hand-drawn NFT collection, comprising 16 types of BEANZ, spanning 19,950 PFPs.

Gus, for those new to the Azuki world, is one of the original BEANZ members, most recognized for his mischievous antics, but undeniably pure of heart. Other BEANZ members include Toshi, the red bean; Link, the black bean; Tao, the lentil; Johnny C, the coffee bean; and more. Each of these BEANZ has its own unique story to tell – especially Gus, who, for some reason, just can’t stay out of trouble. 

But according to the Oct. 27 announcement shared with nft now, the vinyl toy is much more than just a collector’s item. Each vinyl is also linked to a Physical Backed Token (PBT), which allows collectors the “ability to journey into the depths of Gus’s innermost bean.”

This open-source standard was created by Chiru Labs in May, allowing creators to link physical items to NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. While most physical items and their NFTs may decouple after a mint or sale, PBTs offer decentralized authentication where anyone can use their phones to verify the ownership lineage of that physical item without having to go through a central server.

Chiru Labs uses their own cryptographic chip, the BEANZ Chip, to link its NFTs to their respective items, such as the new limited-edition Gus vinyl. Anyone can create their own PBTs through the PBT website.

Lam, who is the Creative Director and Curator of AllRightsReserved, a Hong Kong-based creative studio launched in 2013, has worked with leading industry contemporary artists such as KAWS, Florentijn Hofman, and Yayoi Kasuma. From the awe-inspiring 16.5-meter-tall inflatable rubber duck by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman to the globally acclaimed tour of 1,600 panda sculptures by French maestro Paulo Grangeon, Lam’s touch has been pivotal. 

Notably, his extensive collaborations with KAWS, resulting in coveted limited-edition toys and grand installations, further solidified his reputation in the art circuit.

Through a special community raffle, which is now open until Thursday, Nov. 2 at 11:59 p.m. PT, Chiru Labs will be raffling off 530 “Mind of Gus” vinyl for Beanz and Hoarder emblems via the Azuki Collector’s Profile. 

Raffle winners will be announced on Wednesday, November 8. Emblem holders can only win up to 1 vinyl in the raffle. By owning a Gus vinyl toy, collectors will continue to unravel more of the blue Beanz’s backstory.

Editor’s note: This article was written by an nft now staff member in collaboration with OpenAI’s GPT-4.