What are Pudgy Penguins? This NFT project is on the Ethereum blockchain and features 8,888 “unique collectible Penguins” with the proof of each Penguin’s ownership on the Ethereum blockchain” according to the official site.
At press time, some 4,400 people own Pudgy Penguins. The trading volume for these NFTs? 47,500 ETH.
Created as an ERC-721 standard token, Pudgy Penguins are the work of a group of four NFT enthusiasts who launched in July of 2021, selling all 8,888 NFTs with randomly generated features and variants, all minted at the time for 0.03 ETH each. This entire collection was sold out 20 minutes later.
Those who bought in when the price was still low found themselves tempted to “flip” their Penguins and take a profit. Some did, but some bought and held the NFTs. If you bought in at 0.03 ETH each and sold at 1 ETH each, that is decent math for the investment (not taking fees into consideration, just the bought and sold numbers).
What Are Pudgy Penguins?
| Mint Date | July 22, 2021 at 4 PM EST | ||
| Mint Price | .03 ETH | ||
| Total Supply | 8,888 | ||
| Blockchain | Ethereum |
Pudgy Penguin NFTs are a bit different than other NFT art projects such as CryptoPunks in that the artwork is not a callback to the glory days of ASCII art, 8-bit, pixel art, etc. The characters developed for this NFT project are unique and have randomly generated clothing, posture, colors, and other hand-drawn features.
The artist also created a small number of totally unique Penguins and these have no random design elements at all. They are said to be the most rare of the entire collection. According to the official site, among the traits that make these lustworthy to NFT collectors?
“…a Pudgy Penguin in a banana suit, a shark costume, a pineapple suit, a ghost costume, and one of them is even facing the opposite direction of all other Penguins”. While that might not be quite the gold standard for other artworks, in the world of NFTs, the more unique and scarce, the potentially higher price tag is often not far behind.
If penguins can’t fly, how can we get high enough in the air to drop things? Asking for a friend…
— Pudgy Penguins (@pudgypenguins) April 4, 2022
Pudgy Penguin Success…And Failure?
Pudgy Penguins is said to be one of the most successful NFTs with some $140 million worth of sales in ETH. Following the success of these NFTs, the project got more ambitious. There were plans for a game, a book, “and more”, all announced in the fall of 2021. But there was trouble in Penguin-land.
Coindesk reported in January 2022 that the project voted out its founders, who allegedly did not bring results on those plans. The founders were also accused of looting the Pudgy Penguins treasury, leading for some calling for a decentralization of the entire project according to Coindesk.
And to add insult to injury, reports of the Pudgy Penguins value being affected by the controversy began coming in shortly after it was announced that the founders had been voted out and offers to buy out the project had started coming in.
The price of a “common” Pudgy Penguin fell below 1 ETH in late 2021. These had been trading for nearly 3 ETH previously. They are available for purchase on the Pudgy Penguins authorized OpenSea marketplace. You can review the Penguins currently available for sale including their individual unique traits, prices, and time remaining in each auction.
Pudgy Penguins Carry On
In spite of the project’s trouble as mentioned above, Pudgy Penguins made a move to mint more NFTs in the form of 22,222 Lil Pudgys with 400 traits, which are randomly generated from 400 individual traits. Everyone who owns a Pudgy Penguin was allowed to claim the Lil version of this NFT project, with all other Lil Pudgy NFTs offered so that “anybody” can mint them and join the project.
New Ownership
Pudgy Penguins was sold in April 2022 for 750 ETH ($2.5 million). The group is led by Pudgy Penguins holder and entrepreneur Luca Netz, Cameron Moulène and several other stakeholders, who bought control of the project, along with royalties, from the original four co-founders of the project.
The deal immediately caused a spike in trading NFT marketplace with the floor price of a Pudgy Penguin jumping as high as 2.7 ETH.
The blizzard has passed, and the snow is settling. The Huddle has shown its resilience. It’s time to waddle to the promised land.
We’re ready to announce the worst kept secret in Web3. Our next chapter has begun: new team, new roadmap, new heights.
Penguins, our time is #NOW ???? pic.twitter.com/IqcG697ULW
— Pudgy Penguins (@pudgypenguins) April 3, 2022
Pudgy Penguins Roadmap
The Pudgy Penguins leadership has outlined some objectives and aspirations that they plan on executing:
- Pudgy Media launch
- F1 event
- Major partnerships
- Advisory board formation
- Merchandise
- NFT NYC event
- Community health partnerships
- Retail partnerships
- Story-telling initiatives
- Major brand collaborations
- Charitable initiatives / activations
- Digital game
- Staking-esque mechanism with a unique value proposition
- Treasure hunts
- Pudgy Fest Concert
- Pudgy Mastermind Conference
- Viral marketing campaigns
- Web 3.0 tools that benefit web 3.0 and holders alike.
- Pudgy Penguins Adventure Capital fund
- **** ***** J*** **** a*********
Quest Map
Over the coming years, there will be many quest maps with many clues that unfolds a story.
$PENGU Token?
With news of the sale rumors immediately started circulating that there would a Pudgy Penguins tokens. This would follow in the footsteps of Yuga Labs’ BAYC, which launched its ApeCoin ($APE) token in March 2022.
$PENGU COMING 2022
Pudgy Presents are revealing and will play a vital role in the story of Pudgy Penguins! View them here: https://t.co/BJRG1UxxHy pic.twitter.com/FP8NR3cJ3f
— Pudgy Penguins (@pudgypenguins) December 25, 2021
Pudgy Penguins Links
Websites: https://www.pudgypenguins.com/; https://www.pudgymedia.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pudgypenguins
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pudgypenguins/
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/pudgypenguins
Opensea: https://opensea.io/collection/pudgypenguins
Joe Wallace has covered real estate and financial topics, including crypto and NFTs since 1995. His work has appeared on Veteran.com, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and many print and online publications. Joe is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter for Air Force Television News.
