AnimeChain, announced Wednesday by the Arbitrum Foundation in conjunction with the Weeb3 Foundation and Chiru Labs, aims to be a blockchain-powered one-stop shop for anime creators and fans.
The three organizations constitute the AnimeChain consortium, which says AnimeChain will provide an online anime ecosystem governed by the community. The network will include original and third-party anime content, games, merchandise, and NFTs.
“As a launch partner to AnimeChain, Azuki evaluated existing Ethereum scaling solutions with the Weeb3 Foundation,” Location TBA—the pseudonymous President of Azuki—told Decrypt. “After meeting with various teams, Azuki and the Weeb3 Foundation felt that Arbitrum was the best fit for AnimeChain.”
Offchain Labs launched Arbitrum in August 2021 as an Ethereum scaling solution that uses optimistic rollups to speed up transactions and reduce fees. It can handle up to 40,000 transactions per second (TPS), which the group said will allow AnimeChain to swiftly onboard millions of Anime fans.
In February, more than 50% of the ApeCoin DAO voted to use the Abritrum network for its upcoming “ApeChain.” That same month, Proof of Play, the studio behind the blockchain RPG Pirate Nation, said it would use Arbitrum for its upcoming games.
According to Location TBA, the idea for AnimeChain came after they noticed that transactions on traditional networks were taking a long time and saw that companies like Meta—where they claim to have worked—dedicated entire teams to shave milliseconds off files. With 250 millisecond block times, TBA explained, Arbitrum will help bring web3 closer to parity with web2 for anime enthusiasts worldwide.
“After completing technical due diligence, it was clear that Arbitrum is the most performant scaling solution,” they said. “Therefore, Azuki was an advocate for the Weeb3 Foundation to move forward with Arbitrum for AnimeChain.”
AnimeChain will be maintained by the Weeb3 Foundation, which developed the anime-focused network.
To ensure inclusivity and accessibility for anime fans new to the Web3 space, Location TBA said AnimeChain will offer an intuitive user interface that simplifies interaction without requiring in-depth knowledge of blockchain technology, similar to how more commonly used apps like Crunchyroll do not require coding skills.
"We are excited to collaborate with Weeb3 Foundation and Azuki to introduce AnimeChain," Arbitrum Foundation Head of Ecosystem Development Nina Rong said in a statement. "With the most advanced blockchain scaling technology in the industry, Arbitrum will empower AnimeChain to redefine the anime experience for fans and creators worldwide."
The Arbitrum Foundation launched in March 2023 to support and grow the Arbitrum network and community.
Azuki was launched in January 2022 by Los Angeles-based Chiru Labs. The collection of 10,000 anime-themed NFT on the Ethereum blockchain currently has a floor price of 4.868 ETH, or around $17,583, on Magic Eden.
“Launching its anime productions, games, and physical products on AnimeChain, [Azuki] is providing a blueprint for other top-tier anime IP to be built on-chain,” Location TBA said.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.