Pudgy Penguins, the third-largest NFT assortment by market capitalization, introduced Thursday night that it is launching a brand new token known as PENGU on the Solana blockchain earlier than the yr ends.
The announcement is available in as Pudgy Penguins’ NFT assortment ground value hit a brand new all-time excessive amid surging crypto market valuations.
In line with the challenge, it’ll distribute 88 billion PENGU tokens to NFT house owners who’ve Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys, Pudgy Rods, and different collections related to the challenge.
The token’s provide can be allotted primarily based on the next distribution: 23.5% is reserved for current Pudgy Penguins NFT holders, whereas 22.02% is reserved for the broader Solana and Ethereum communities. An extra 12.32% will present liquidity on decentralized exchanges.
Pudgy Penguins launched in July 2021 with 8,888 NFT items, with the “8” working as a metaphor alluding to how the comical characters look.
Primarily based on the announcement video shared by Pudgy Penguins, the PENGU token is taken into account via its lore because the “Grasp Coin,” which the core staff of seven will “hatch” from a golden egg as a logo of their “collective would possibly.”
Decrypt has reached out to Pudgy Penguins on its alternative of Solana.
Shifting tides
The gathering’s ground value surged greater than 40% this week to succeed in a brand new all-time excessive above $62,000, surpassing its earlier peak of $57,000 in February 2024, Decrypt reported Thursday.
The rise coincides with Bitcoin’s breakthrough above $100,000 and displays broader market momentum affecting main NFT collections.
Pudgy Penguins has maintained a powerful market presence regardless of historic NFT market volatility, with a complete market capitalization of round $550 million.
The model has expanded past digital belongings, producing over $10 million in bodily toy gross sales via main retailers, together with Walmart, Goal, and Walgreens.
The PENGU token launch represents a strategic pivot as market consideration shifts from NFTs to fungible tokens and meme cash.
On X (previously Twitter), Pudgy Penguins pointed to this shift with a put up saying: “Tides are shifting. A brand new starting is upon us.”
The transfer addresses historic NFT liquidity challenges whereas leveraging Pudgy Penguins’ established model presence, which incorporates over 3 million social media followers and 32 billion views on Giphy.
Crypto’s bull run can be driving NFTs increased, Decrypt reported on Monday. This surge has helped push the general NFT market capitalization to about $8.6 billion, based on CoinGecko knowledge, whereas weekly Ethereum NFT buying and selling quantity doubled to exceed $101 million.
The challenge’s transformation started when Luca Netz acquired it in 2022, increasing from a struggling NFT assortment right into a outstanding crypto-native model. Netz projected formidable development for the challenge in July, suggesting a possible ground value goal of 200 ETH (roughly $780,000 at present charges) throughout this market cycle.
The challenge plans to finally combine with Summary, an upcoming Ethereum Layer-2 answer, although the instant focus stays on establishing PENGU’s presence within the Solana ecosystem.
Edited Sebastian Sinclair
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