During what would become a historic 24-hour period of time, Azuki whales bid against each other to purchase one of eight golden skateboards during the brand’s Proof-of-Skate auction.

The auction and skateboards are Azuki’s first run of its recently announced Physical Backed Token (PBT) system. By the end of the auction, the total amount of ETH spent across the eight winners was roughly 1,900, which is equivalent to just over $2,500,000 USD at the time of writing.

As a result, the world record for the most expensive skateboard ever sold was broken not once, but eight times over — an achievement for both Web3 history and skate history.

The results of the Azuki Golden Skateboard auction are in.

After 24H+ of fierce bidding (especially in the final moments), we have our top 8 Golden Skateboard auction winners. Let’s extend our warm & heartfelt congratulations to the winners!

Thread below ? pic.twitter.com/SxAOjhVTVn

— Azuki (@AzukiOfficial) October 23, 2022

New Token Standard

Looking to innovate, Azuki announced the launch of its PBT token, which effectively ties a physical item to a digital token utilizing the Ethereum blockchain.

In most “phygital” good offerings, brands will utilize what’s called an NFC or near-field communication chip, which allows for use cases like verification of authenticity — with PBT however, the asset shows up in the owner’s wallet, allowing for a more intricate relationship with the physical good.

As of now, the tokens will be used to claim the physical counterpart, while this has been done before the difference here is that without PBT a token or physical good can be sold separately and the link broken between the two — with PBT this won’t be possible, as the relationship will always remain intact.

This means that if the physical item is sold, the new owner can “scan to own” it and the accompanying NFT will be transferred over

Azuki has decided to make the new technology open source, allowing those who want to dive into its technicalities to learn all about it or for other projects who might want to implement it to do so.

Introducing the Physical Backed Token (PBT): an open source token standard tying a physical item to a digital token on the Ethereum blockchain. pic.twitter.com/iXavmJR5xv

— Azuki (@AzukiOfficial) October 17, 2022

Record Breaking

As a result of the auction, the world record for the most expensive skateboard was broken eight times over — with the top sale coming in at roughly $415,000 USD, which is 11 times the previous world record.

Before the auction of these eight, 24kt gold plated boards, the title for most expensive skateboard in the world belonged to the Jamie Thomas & Bob Dylan “Blowin’ In The Wind” deck — which sold for just over $38,000 USD.

As far as golden skateboards go, this is now the second time a complete golden skateboard, or in this case, skateboards hold the title for most expensive — with the last being sold for $15,000 in 2014.

The fact that the record was broken eight times in a single day will become a part of skate and NFT history, winning bidders in order of highest to lowest include Dingaling, John696969, Spirit DAO, J, Csaw, Mr Gentle Ape, Shrimpwen, and anonymous “Dark Lady.”

The Golden Skateboard is a marvel of art & technology showcasing our first implementation of PBT, which paves the way for a new era of storytelling.

We broke the record for the most expensive skateboard ever sold (in fact, the 8 most expensive skateboards ever sold). pic.twitter.com/XG2fgfrVgU

— Azuki (@AzukiOfficial) October 23, 2022

Ladies and Gents, World’s Most Expensive Skateboard – collab w/ @jamiethomas & @bobdylan 4 #boardsandbands ($38,425). pic.twitter.com/Hq9fho8u

— The Skatepark Project (@skatepark) December 14, 2012

Worth It?

The big question going around Crypto Twitter is, was it worth it? Something that could be answered in technical terms based on gold values, odds of Ether versus gold appreciation, and more. However, outside of a technical standpoint, it is hard to place a true value on anything that is a first of its kind, which is the case here thanks to the implementation of PBT.

Popular NFT collector and investor tropoFarmer pointed out an interesting observation in a recent tweet, being that top bidder Dingaling spent $142,000 USD more than the lowest bidder — all seemingly to have the top badge.

All of the bidders will receive the same physical skateboard but will be assigned different tokens based on their place in the auction.

From a social standpoint, this is where the value comes from — a contest of clout but also the chance to have one’s name recorded in a historical event.

Azuki whales are some of the craziest, richest mfs in this space. They just spent $2,500,000 on 8 golden skateboards… in the middle of a recession. The highest bidder spent $142,000 more than the lowest JUST to get a better badge flex, exact same skateboard. Insane. pic.twitter.com/mEzKUQJyc2

— tropoFarmer ? -35.eth (@tropoFarmer) October 23, 2022

“Digitization is accelerating. The mental model for defining value is shifting. PBT allows for what’s physical to become digital. A new wave of storytelling is here,” shared Azuki Founder Zagabond in a recent tweet.

As with any emerging technology or emerging asset class, there is a great risk but there is also great potential reward and sometimes it is about more than a financial gain but rather being a part of something bigger than yourself.

Needless to say, history has been made here and the respective owners are the only ones who can truly answer the question for themselves.

In case you missed it, see Hypemoon’s exclusive interview with Azuki founder Zagabond.