Pudgy Penguins, an NFT collection of round, cute penguins, has seen waves of success and failure since its debut in July 2021. The company suffered a sharp drop in price and plummeting popularity, especially when allegations surfaced about its founders last year.
The holding community, dubbed “Pengus” or “the Huddle,” was upset that the founders were unable to deliver on the project’s original roadmap. The outrage was further heightened by allegations that the founders stole the project’s funds.
Some holders will kick the founders out in a community vote in January 2022. Normally, the story would end here. Hopes dashed by ambitious promises and bad guys. What remains is a community united by a common despair.
However, the story took a new turn. Los Angeles entrepreneur and Penguin NFT holder Luca Netz bought the brand for 750 Ethereum (ETH), promising to turn things around and improve communication.
It’s been about a year since then. Penguin NFT’s spirit of ‘good mood and positivity for everyone’ has been restored thanks to new investments, real-world toys, and a rebound in NFT sales, with prices hitting record highs.
Penguin march to success
After Netz and his new team took over the project, they focused on building the project’s intellectual property (IP), laying out a plan to “become the leading brand in onboarding from Web2 to Web3.” Unlike the original founders, they have definitely taken steps to put their roadmap into action, announcing the production of penguin NFT-based toys and children’s books in the summer of 2022.
“I believe IP will be the Trojan horse that will bring hundreds of millions of people to crypto and Web3,” Netz said in an interview with CoinDesk.
“In order to get people to want to get involved in this field, you have to fall in love with a character, and that character is the Pudgy Penguins,” said Netz.
Despite the change in mood and momentum, and the overall “crypto asset winter” continuing, August 2022 recorded the highest sales ever. It also rose at Christmas in December 2022.
Stoked for the pengs! @LucaNetz but excited to see where he and the new leadership takes em. https://t.co/bwro4rnHXx
— Garga.eth (Greg Solano) (@CryptoGarga) August 22, 2022
“Congratulations Penguins! I haven’t met Mr. Netz, but I’m looking forward to what’s ahead with him and the new leadership.
toys and online experiences
In May 2023, the company announced another $9 million in funding, followed shortly after by the promised toy launch. 20,000 units were reportedly sold in a few days, and the floor price rose to 6.2 ETH on May 20, 2023, according to NFT marketplace OpenSea.
. @pudgypenguins toys are dominating the Amazon sales charts.
They are currently #1 in Toys & Games beating out legacy brands such as:
– Disney – Transformers – Pokemon – Barbie – Legos
License.
