NFTs aren’t exactly the hottest commodity in the crypto space these days.
While the blue chips remain valuable (looking at you Bored Ape), the swarm of people minting new collections every second has buzzed off.
But even in 2025, when NFTs hit – they hit.
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Pudgy Penguins was one of Web3’s biggest sensations during the original NFT run in 2021. The collection, comprising 8,888 cute (and athletically-challenged) penguins, sold out in less than 20 minutes and has maintained its status as a high-quality digital asset ever since.
The growing ecosystem hit an inflection point last month, when the developers officially released a native token, PENGU.
And despite some early struggles, the token is starting to live up to its potential.
PENGU has surged nearly 40% over the past seven days, almost sneaking into the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
According to Coinmarketcap, this week’s uptrend led to a new all-time-high – something PENGU hadn’t experienced since its release to the public.
Biological horseplay aside, the Pudgy Penguins NFT collection hasn’t performed anywhere near as well as the token.
In the week PENGU flew (kidding) 40%, trading volume of the digital collectibles sunk 50%.
The dichotomy may simply be a reflection of changing interests from crypto investors, who seem to be prioritising broader DeFi ecosystems and their tokens over NFTs.
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That said, Pudgy Penguins is still the second-largest NFT collection by market cap, securing partnerships with big names like Walmart and Target to sell actual toys of the characters.
And on an (un)related note, here’s a fun fact: penguins can fly, just not through the air. You see, they evolved to fly through the water, helping them catch prey and survive the freezing cold.
Chinstrap penguins clumsily dive off a glacier into the water. pic.twitter.com/scfweybEqi
Ben Knight is a writer and editor from Melbourne with a passion for all things music and finance. He enjoys turning complex topics – especially the technical details of cryptocurrency – into digestible bites that anybody can understand. He acquired his Master’s in Writing, Editing and Publishing from RMIT in 2019 and has run his own creative writing business ever since.
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