Pudgy Penguins To 'Hatch a Master Coin' On Solana as NFT Floor Prices Surge

The announcement comes in as Pudgy Penguins' $NFT collection floor price hit a new all-time high amid surging crypto market valuations.

According to the project, it will distribute 88 billion $PENGU tokens to $NFT owners who have Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys, Pudgy Rods, and other collections associated with the project.

The token's supply will be allocated based on the following distribution: 23.5% is reserved for existing Pudgy Penguins $NFT holders, while 22.02% is reserved for the broader Solana and Ethereum communities. An additional 12.32% will provide liquidity on decentralized exchanges.

Pudgy Penguins launched in July 2021 with 8,888 $NFT pieces, with the "8" working as a metaphor alluding to how the comical characters look.

Based on the announcement video shared by Pudgy Penguins, the $PENGU token is considered through its lore as the "Master Coin," which the core team of seven will "hatch" from a golden egg as a symbol of their "collective might."

Decrypt has reached out to Pudgy Penguins on its choice of Solana.

Shifting tides

The collection's floor price surged more than 40% this week to reach a new all-time high above $62,000, surpassing its previous peak of $57,000 in February 2024, Decrypt reported Thursday.

The increase coincides with Bitcoin's breakthrough above $100,000 and reflects broader market momentum affecting major $NFT collections.

Pudgy Penguins has maintained a strong market presence despite historical $NFT market volatility, with a total market capitalization of around $550 million.

The brand has expanded beyond digital assets, generating over $10 million in physical toy sales through major retailers, including Walmart, Target, and Walgreens.

The $PENGU token launch represents a strategic pivot as market attention shifts from NFTs to fungible tokens and meme coins.

On X (formerly Twitter), Pudgy Penguins pointed to this shift with a post saying: "Tides are shifting. A new beginning is upon us."

The move addresses historical $NFT liquidity challenges while leveraging Pudgy Penguins' established brand presence, which includes over 3 million social media followers and 32 billion views on Giphy.

Crypto's bull run is also driving NFTs higher, Decrypt reported on Monday. This surge has helped push the overall $NFT market capitalization to about $8.6 billion, according to CoinGecko data, while weekly Ethereum $NFT trading volume doubled to exceed $101 million.

The project's transformation began when Luca Netz acquired it in 2022, expanding from a struggling $NFT collection into a prominent crypto-native brand. Netz has projected ambitious growth, suggesting a potential floor price target of 200 ETH (approximately $780,000 at current rates) during this market cycle.

The project plans to eventually integrate with Abstract, an upcoming Ethereum Layer-2 solution, though the immediate focus remains on establishing $PENGU's presence in the Solana ecosystem.

Edited Sebastian Sinclair