Casio, a Japanese multinational electronics company, has partnered with Astar Network to launch a collection of NFTs to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
The NFTs, which can be bought up to eight at a time, are all inspired by Casio timepieces, with the art representing different models of popular watches. The NFTs went on sale yesterday, May 1st. Interested users will need an Ethereum non-custodial wallet like Rainbow or Metamask to purchase.
The 50th anniversary NFTs are part of Astar Network’s Yoki Origins game, which challenges users to hunt for Yoki, “mythical creatures born from the essence of nature and human imagination.” The creatures are part of Japanese folklore and often have supernatural qualities.
According to the official X account of Astar Network, 10 collectors of the Casio 50th NFTs will have the chance to win a physical, limited-edition Casio “G-Shock” watch. Other collectors may win 10,000 yen in $ASTR, the native token of the Astar Network.
This isn’t the first time Casio has delved into Web3. Eight months ago, it dropped a collection of virtual “G-Shock” NFTs on Polygon, a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. It has a dedicated Discord server for that community, as well as an official X account.
Astar Network, originally called Plasm Network, is a smart contract platform based in Japan. Sota Watanabe, who was listed in Forbes 30 under 30 in 2022, founded the company in 2019, with the aim of creating the next generation of multichain smart contracts.
Watchmakers Enter Web3
While they say that “bear markets are for builders,” there were people launching NFT collections throughout 2022 and 2023. And many of these people were watchmakers. Some of the most notable stories we covered of this trend were:
- Diesel launched a phygital watch and immersive experience
- Japanese artist Takashi Murakami debuted a rainbow phygital watch set
- TIMEX created exclusive watches that featured Bored Ape NFTs
- Rolex, the king of luxury watches, filed for Web3 trademarks
- Swiss watchmaker Franck Muller launched mystery box NFTs
- TAG Heuer revealed a smartwatch that could display NFTs
- Jacobs & Co. debuted a planetary NFT watch collection
As these stories show, watchmakers have taken to Web3 — and in a big way. Perhaps that should come as no surprise, since one of the main use cases for NFTs is collectibles, which luxury watches often are.
Rarity Sniper will keep an eye on the Casio 50th anniversary NFT collection and update this story if needed. To keep abreast of the latest trends in Web3, sign up for our newsletter, The Sniper’s Nest.