A heavyweight from the once-hot NFT period is now stepping into the cryptocurrency issuance sport.
Pudgy Penguins launched three years in the past as a set of 8,888 NFTs depicting colourful and comical birds.
Now, the group behind the challenge tells CoinDesk that they may launch a token known as PENGU this 12 months on the Solana blockchain.
Practically 1 / 4 — 23.5% — of the 88 billion PENGU tokens can be reserved for homeowners of the challenge’s NFT collections like Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys, Pudgy Rods and extra. An additional 22.02% can be out there to the Solana and Ethereum communities, whereas 12.32% are put aside to supply liquidity on decentralized exchanges.
“With $PENGU, the tens of millions of Pudgy Penguin followers and the a whole lot of tens of millions of people that see and share the Pudgy Penguin day by day now get the chance to align themselves with the character and turn into part of The Huddle,” the group shared in a press release.
Pudgy is among the many uncommon collections that managed to remain culturally related within the in any other case dreadful NFT enterprise following the worth crash from the 2021-2022 bull market. Many NFTs lacked actual utility past being a digital brag. It was additionally troublesome to completely understand features after value bumps — as market liquidity was typically insufficient to fill orders.
The pivot comes as enjoyable tokens and memecoins, not like NFTs, have taken off and flourished within the final two years. Liquidity, relative cheapness, virality and ease-of-use are key the explanation why individuals have flocked to those newest scorching asset lessons — regardless that enjoyable tokens and memecoins essentially symbolize the identical concept as NFT collections did: belonging to a passionate neighborhood.
Official Pudgy Penguins channels have over 3 million followers throughout Instagram, X, TikTok and YouTube, and movies involving the characters have notched 32 billion views on Giphy.
One of many model’s TikTok accounts is concentrated on spreading good vibes beneath the “Pudgy Kindness” moniker — popularizing it as a feel-good service within the mainstream, outdoors of crypto circles.
Pudgy Kindness simply crossed 1M followers on Tiktok. Of all of the issues we’ve finished at Pudgy, that is undoubtedly my favourite. We’re going to scale this 10x and alter 1000s of lives in 2025. Keep tuned 🐧👀 pic.twitter.com/Eq1PylA5QQ
— Luca Netz 🐧✳️ (@LucaNetz) November 24, 2024
It goes past screens too. Guardian firm Igloo final 12 months launched Pudgy Toys, a toy line primarily based on the digital artwork assortment, and has since bought greater than $10 million in collectible igloos and plushies which might be carried at main retailers, together with Walmart, Goal, Amazon and Walgreens.
Pudgy Penguins is the third-largest NFT assortment by market capitalization — $550 million in complete — as of Thursday, knowledge reveals, trailing solely CryptoPunks and Bored Apes Yacht Membership. The gathering got here to life in 2021, and every penguin is hand-drawn and options numerous distinct traits akin to backgrounds, physique, face, head and pores and skin.
