A few days ago, I tweeted that I was planning to acquire a Pudgy Penguin NFT, and many friends asked why? NFTs are already outdated, why spend so much money on one now?
Most Chinese users probably first learned about Pudgy Penguins because of the 2024 $PENGU airdrop. That airdrop was quite generous, even bordering on "universal benefit." Even if you didn't own a Pudgy Penguin NFT, but had been trading on Solana relatively early, you might have received hundreds of dollars worth of $PENGU.
What was truly staggering was the NFT holders. Just before the airdrop, the Pudgy Penguin NFT floor price skyrocketed to over 30 ETH. Each Pudgy Penguin NFT could claim roughly 1.7 million $PENGU, and each Lil Pudgy could claim about 188,000. Calculated at the token price then, a large penguin was worth tens of thousands of USD, at its peak even exceeding $100,000. A Lil Pudgy at its peak was also worth over $10,000. For someone like the on-chain expert @wenxue600 who held many, based on his holdings, receiving a million-dollar airdrop wouldn't be an exaggeration.
But many buddies claimed their airdrops without understanding the story behind it.
$PENGU is not a Meme Token that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The Pudgy Penguins behind it almost died during the craziest era of NFTs.
In 2022, the Pudgy Penguins floor price once dropped to about 0.5 ETH, and the community even voted to oust the founder themselves. 4 years later, it's in 3,100 Walmart stores across the US, doing collaborations with Manchester City and the NHL, launching a payment card integrated with the Visa network, and even setting a 2026 revenue target of $120 million.
This is probably the most incredible resurrection story in Web3.
How exactly did Pudgy Penguins survive? The story begins in 2021, when 8,888 Pudgy Penguins were minted at 0.03 ETH each, selling out in under 20 minutes. Less than a month after launch, The New York Times even published a feature. At that time, almost no one doubted it would become the next blue-chip NFT.
But what truly made Pudgy special wasn't how it took off, but how it later crashed and climbed back up.
By the end of 2021, promised games, tokens, and ecosystem developments remained unfulfilled. The mysterious egg finally hatched... a fishing rod, which the community mockingly called "Rogs," a pun on "Rug" (rug pull).
A more severe trust crisis emerged, with the original team being questioned for draining the treasury and wanting to sell the project and walk away. In January 2022, holders directly initiated a vote on Discord to remove founder Cole. For the first time, an NFT community acted like shareholders, voting the founder out with their own hands.
But voting out the founder didn't guarantee the project's survival. At that time, Pudgy's floor price hit a low of about 0.5 ETH, the community was fractured, the project treasury was nearly empty, and some holders even used Wrapped Penguins to bypass the original team's royalties. That penguin wasn't just "facing difficulties"; it was truly on the brink of dying.
The turning point came in April 2022, when @LucaNetz bought the Pudgy Penguins IP and operating rights for 750 ETH, worth about $2.5 million at the time. This deal was later called by many the most successful CTO (Community Takeover) in Web3.
But the reality after the takeover wasn't as ideal as a fairy tale; it was even harsh. Luca later recalled: the team took over with almost no money in the account, immediately followed by the NFT bubble bursting, with trading volume plummeting 95%, ETH falling about 80%, and the royalty model collapsing; at its most difficult point, 80% of the team went without pay for 11 consecutive months.
Pudgy's comeback wasn't about just changing owners and pumping the NFT floor price again. What it truly did right was to stop treating the NFT price as the product and start treating the character behind the NFT as a genuine consumer IP.
In 2023, Pudgy Toys began entering Amazon and Walmart marketplaces. Within a year, products were on shelves in 3,100 Walmart stores across the US. Each toy also has a QR code that leads consumers who know nothing about wallets or NFTs into Pudgy World. Interestingly, these physical toys use penguin images owned by community holders, and qualifying NFT holders also receive IP licensing revenue.
This means NFT holders aren't just buying a picture; they can participate in creating and sharing the brand's value. This was the most crucial step for Pudgy moving from OpenSea into Walmart.
Looking at 2026, Pudgy's roadmap looks less and less like a traditional NFT project:
- Partnered with the NHL, hosting offline events at the 2026 Winter Classic;
- Launched collaborative merchandise with Manchester City, expanding after the initial phase;
- Launched Pengu Card, integrated with the Visa payment network, supporting Apple Pay and Google Pay, covering about 150 million merchants globally; the virtual card quickly gained 100,000 registrations;
- The free web game Pudgy World officially launched, and the digital content obtained by scanning QR codes on purchased physical toys finally started having real use cases;
- Vibes TCG collectible card game cumulative sales exceeded 4 million packs.
The CEO set a 2026 revenue target of $120 million and has publicly expressed hope to push for an IPO before 2027. Looking at all the plans together, a clear picture emerges. NFTs brought it its first batch of owners and promoters; toys brought it into ordinary households; social media and memes kept the penguin image spreading; games, cards, and payment products continuously add use cases; $PENGU lowered the participation barrier from an expensive NFT to a larger internet community.
The NFT bubble burst because most NFT projects ultimately died after "selling the pictures." Pudgy almost died there too, but it ultimately survived. Because it stopped relying on the next batch of people buying at higher prices and started answering a more important question: Can this penguin become a brand that people genuinely like, buy, and use?
So, the reason I want to buy a Pudgy Penguin NFT isn't just because NFTs have risen in price recently. Back then, although I didn't hold a Pudgy Penguin NFT, just by using Solana for a relatively long time, I received thousands of dollars worth of $PENGU airdrop. Now, looking back, buying an NFT to serve as an identity token for this IP and community also seems like a good choice for me.
Recently, I've also noticed the Pudgy Penguins Chinese community @PudgyChina is restarting. During bull markets, everyone talks about price; it's actually bear markets that are more suitable for seriously building a community. Those interested can also follow: @PudgyChina @pudgypenguins @LucaNetz
