Since gracing the quilt of the New York Occasions, Pudgy Penguins have been on a rollercoaster journey. Initially a cute profile image NFT assortment, Pudgy Penguins endured the ousting of its founder earlier than discovering mainstream success, with licensed toys touchdown on the cabinets of Walmart and Goal shops nationwide.
Launched amid the NFT increase in 2021, the gathering and its ecosystem of companions has grow to be the face of Web3, garnering tens of millions of social impressions and exploding past the comparatively small sector of crypto individuals on X (previously referred to as Twitter).
Right here’s the whole lot it’s good to find out about Pudgy Penguins.
What are Pudgy Penguins?
A group of 8,888 flightless chicken NFTs, Pudgy Penguins first launched in July 2021, promoting out shortly after launch for a worth of 0.03 ETH, or round $90 on the time, in line with knowledge from NFT Worth Ground.
The gathering rapidly gained acclaim, gracing the quilt of the New York Occasions in August 2021 after columnist Kevin Roose shared his expertise in “becoming a member of the Huddle.”
In just some months after its mint, the gathering held a ground worth, or the bottom listed asset on {the marketplace}, of greater than $6,000 in line with NFT Worth Ground. That worth would dip in the direction of $1,000 via the subsequent six months amid the subsiding of NFT mania and a few unrest inside its group, resulting in the ousting of its founder and a management turnover.
All change on the high
Restlessness within the Pudgy Penguins group grew all through the early months of 2022 partly as a result of criticisms of its undertaking founder, Cole Villemain, who goes by ColeThereum on X.
Allegations of mismanagement and extra led to mistrust between the founding staff and the group.
As displeasure with the staff grew more and more loud, the undertaking held a group vote which led to the elimination of Villemain and takeover provides from the group.
One supply got here from Netz Capital’s Luca Netz, who publicly supplied round $2.5 million, or 750 ETH, in January 2022.
750 ETH for @Pudgy_Penguins by the NFT degenerates. Make your transfer @ColeThereum
— Luca Netz 🐧✳️ (@LucaNetz) January 6, 2022
Months later, that provide was accepted and Netz bought the undertaking and its mental property for the quantity, tweeting that he was “trying ahead to spreading love.”
After Netz’ acquisition, the Pudgy Penguins ground worth rapidly rebounded, leaping from about $4,300 on the day of the announcement to $8,900 three days later.
Underneath new management, the undertaking rapidly put in a brand new roadmap and started the journey to establishing itself as a number one NFT undertaking.
Pudgy Penguins: from NFTs to toys
One of many first main initiatives led by the brand new management was launching a Pudgy Toys line.
The undertaking introduced its intentions to work with PMI Toys in July 2022, for which it licensed Pudgy Penguin NFTs through its OverpassIP undertaking, permitting holders to instantly profit from the utilization of their Pudgy NFTs in industrial endeavors such because the bodily toys.
The primary toyline launched in Could 2023 and could possibly be bought instantly on Amazon, nevertheless it later expanded to incorporate main retail partnerships with Walmart, Goal, Walgreens, and extra.
Only a 12 months after rollout, Pudgy Toys had bought greater than 750,000 items, in line with the corporate, bringing in additional than $10 million within the course of.
Constructing the Pudgy Penguins model
Since Netz took over the Pudgy Penguins have been arduous at work to succeed in as many eyeballs world wide as potential and proliferate the model.
One main focus for Pudgy Penguins has been in rising its social media channels to succeed in extra shoppers. The undertaking had round 100,000 Instagram followers in July 2022, nevertheless it has since elevated that following to 1.7 million as of January 2025 whereas amassing greater than 39 billion GIF shares, in line with knowledge from GIPHY.
Efforts to spur the model even additional had been buoyed when it raised $9 million in 2023 shortly after signing with expertise company WME.
Since that point, it’s additionally gone on to notch collaborations with manufacturers like PEZ, CD Castellon, and Final Crumb (in addition to MYRIAD, the prediction market from Decrypt’s guardian firm DASTAN).
PENGU: The Pudgy Penguins token
In November 2024, the undertaking introduced it might launch an ecosystem token on Solana as a approach to higher align incentives between the model and its followers. The PENGU token was claimable for Pudgy Penguin NFT holders and a variety of different Web3 communities and lively crypto individuals.
The token launched in December 2024, granting holders of Pudgy Penguins NFTs with 1.7 million PENGU tokens, value greater than $100,000 on the token’s all-time excessive as recorded by CoinGecko.
Past Pudgy Penguins: the opposite NFTs
It’s not simply “huge Pudgys” that make up the Penguin NFT ecosystem.
Lil Pudgys
The Pudgy Penguins ecosystem first grew with the launch of Lil Pudgys.
A companion was claimable at no cost for every of the 8,888 Pudgy Penguins NFTs, with one other batch of Lil Pudgys happening sale to most people for a complete of twenty-two,222 smaller variations of the unique NFT.
In January 2023, the gathering went “cross-chain” as a part of the undertaking’s partnership with interoperability platform LayerZero. Holders had been capable of transport their Lil’ Pudgys through a bridge in an effort to broaden the Penguin IP.
“By enabling the Lil Pudgys to go cross-chain, we’re organising the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem to succeed in tens of millions of individuals,” the undertaking wrote.
Lil Pudgys can bridge from Ethereum mainnet to Arbitrum, Polygon, or Binance Good Chain.
Pudgy Rods (Rogs)
Pudgy Rods are a set of fishing rod NFTs that had been gifted to Pudgy Penguin holders in 2021.
The gathering was initially named “Pudgy Presents,” however later modified to Pudgy Rods after fishing rods hatched from the eggs which beforehand populated the metadata for the NFTs.
The mismatch of fishing rods hatching from an egg was met with confusion from the group and added to the stress between the founding staff and ecosystem individuals that arose in late 2021.
Since that point, the Rods have discovered their house because the third NFT within the Pudgy hierarchy, granting holders related advantages to these of the unique Pudgys, like a PENGU token declare, albeit at smaller scales.
The way forward for Pudgy Penguins
Although the undertaking already has huge accomplishments below its belt, Netz has huge plans for the undertaking sooner or later.
The undertaking’s guardian firm, Igloo Inc., is actively constructing out Pudgy World—a Web3 playground and storytelling universe that homes mini-games and customizable Penguins with a direct hyperlink to Pudgy Toys, which offer a QR code to get new customers onboarded.
Past Pudgy World, the undertaking can also be engaged on Pudgy Celebration, a cellular royale recreation constructed along with Legendary Video games.
