Close Menu
  • Coins
    • Bitcoin
    • Ethereum
    • Altcoins
    • NFT
  • Blockchain
  • DeFi
  • Metaverse
  • Regulation
  • Other
    • Exchanges
    • ICO
    • GameFi
    • Mining
    • Legal
  • MarketCap
What's Hot

Falcon Finance Launches $10M Onchain Insurance Fund

29/08/2025

Celsius to Begin 3rd Distribution of $220.6 Million to Eligible Creditors 

29/08/2025

Court to Hear Fed Governor Lisa Cook’s Suit Against Trump on Friday

29/08/2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
  • Back to NBTC homepage
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
X (Twitter) Telegram Facebook LinkedIn RSS
NBTC News
  • Coins
    1. Bitcoin
    2. Ethereum
    3. Altcoins
    4. NFT
    5. View All

    Price Breaks All-Time High Record Again – Here’s What We Know

    04/08/2025

    Bitcoin Switzerland? El Salvador to Host First Fully Native Bitcoin Capital Markets

    04/08/2025

    Bitcoin Breaks $119K, but XLM and HBAR Aren’t Impressed by Its Meager Percentage Gain

    04/08/2025

    High-Stakes Consolidation Could Define Q3 Trend

    04/08/2025

    New Wallet Transfers $68.24M from FalconX

    29/08/2025

    Ethereum Whales Are Selling in August—Analyst Explains Why It’s Not Bearish

    29/08/2025

    James Wynn Opens 25x ETH Trade With 111 ETH After Return

    29/08/2025

    Bullish Bitcoin Driver Based on Ethereum Revealed by ‘$1 Million BTC’ Samson Mow

    29/08/2025

    The Sui Ecosystem’s Top 3 Altcoin Performers

    29/07/2025

    Floki Launches $69000 Guerrilla Marketing Challenge With FlokiUltras3

    28/07/2025

    Crypto Beast denies role in Altcoin (ALT) crash rug pull, blames snipers

    28/07/2025

    $1.6 Billion XRP Surge: Here’s What’s Unfolding

    28/07/2025

    Base claims top 3 spot in 30-day NFT volume: DappRadar

    27/08/2025

    Blue chip NFTs sink double digits as ETH retreats from record highs

    26/08/2025

    floor down up to 18% in the last week (week ended August 26, 2023), volumes still robust

    26/08/2025

    What’s Behind the Double-Digit Declines?

    26/08/2025

    Falcon Finance Launches $10M Onchain Insurance Fund

    29/08/2025

    Celsius to Begin 3rd Distribution of $220.6 Million to Eligible Creditors 

    29/08/2025

    Court to Hear Fed Governor Lisa Cook’s Suit Against Trump on Friday

    29/08/2025

    Crucial Ethena ENA Deposit to Binance Sparks Market Interest

    29/08/2025
  • Blockchain

    MetaMask Guide: The Gateway to Web3

    29/08/2025

    Zoro Partners with Fireverse Ventures to Redefine AI-Powered Music in Web3

    29/08/2025

    Concordium Partners with Safle Wallet to Grow PayFi Ecosystem in Web3

    29/08/2025

    SocioAgent Integrates PAI3’s AI Compute Infrastructure to Power Transparent, People-Powered AI Agent Social Network

    29/08/2025

    Blockchain: The missing link in AI’s path to consciousness

    29/08/2025
  • DeFi

    Falcon Finance Launches $10M Onchain Insurance Fund

    29/08/2025

    Creditlink Joins WLFI to Build a Secure and Accessible DeFi Future

    29/08/2025

    Navi Protocol BTC Deposits Hit Astounding 2,200, Solidifying Sui’s DeFi Leadership

    29/08/2025

    Mantle Becomes Top DeFi Treasury with Over $4B in Assets

    29/08/2025

    Crypto loans skyrocket 42% as Tether dominates CeFi lending

    29/08/2025
  • Metaverse

    Metaverse developer The Sandbox lays off 50% of staff and pivots to meme coin launchpad

    28/08/2025

    Meta Breaks Up AI Lab as Part of Superintelligence Push

    20/08/2025

    The Sandbox Game Maker: Unleashing Revolutionary Metaverse Experiences

    07/08/2025

    Where Has the Metaverse Gone? Examining a Failed (and Costly) Trend

    01/08/2025

    From Metaverse to Machine Learning, Inside Meta’s $72 Billion AI Gamble

    31/07/2025
  • Regulation

    Celsius to Begin 3rd Distribution of $220.6 Million to Eligible Creditors 

    29/08/2025

    Coinbase Declares Stablecoins Superior—Faster, Cheaper, More Global Than Legacy Finance

    29/08/2025

    Publicly-Listed AMTD Group Wants Investors’ Crypto in Equity Swap Program

    29/08/2025

    Fed Chair Jerome Powell is in Charge of Bitcoin and Altcoins! So What Should We Expect in the Short Term?

    29/08/2025

    Expert Counters FUD About Tether With Evidence of U.S. Expansion and Strong Financial Ties

    29/08/2025
  • Other
    1. Exchanges
    2. ICO
    3. GameFi
    4. Mining
    5. Legal
    6. View All

    Crucial Ethena ENA Deposit to Binance Sparks Market Interest

    29/08/2025

    OKX Japan Receives Full FSA Approval, Ranks Top 3 in Country

    29/08/2025

    Bybit EU adopts Nasdaq’s surveillance platform to strengthen MiCAR compliance

    29/08/2025

    Unraveling the $400 Million Mystery

    29/08/2025

    ICO for bitcoin yield farming chain Corn screams we’re so back

    22/01/2025

    Why 2025 Will See the Comeback of the ICO

    26/12/2024

    Pudgy Penguins Game ‘Pudgy Party’ Launches on iOS and Android

    29/08/2025

    GaFin Joins Cyber Crash to Advance Web3 Gaming

    28/08/2025

    Stability World AI Adds Games to Transform the Future of Web3 Gaming

    28/08/2025

    Buzzy Ethereum Game Football.fun Has Soccer Fans Scoring Crypto Gains

    28/08/2025

    Bitcoin Miner IREN’s AI Push Gains Momentum, Price Target Hiked 60% to $37: Canaccord

    29/08/2025

    Hut 8 Maps ‘Path to Monetization’ of Energy Assets as Bitcoin Mining Carve-Out Nears: Benchmark

    28/08/2025

    Bitcoin Mining Earnings Dip as Hashprice Falls 7.61% in 30 Days

    28/08/2025

    TeraWulf’s Multi-Billion Dollar HPC Deal Backstopped by Google

    27/08/2025

    Court to Hear Fed Governor Lisa Cook’s Suit Against Trump on Friday

    29/08/2025

    Rethinking Financial Surveillance and Privacy in Crypto

    29/08/2025

    Unicoin says SEC distorted its filings in $100M fraud case

    29/08/2025

    Socios.com Secures Crucial European Regulatory Milestone

    29/08/2025

    Falcon Finance Launches $10M Onchain Insurance Fund

    29/08/2025

    Celsius to Begin 3rd Distribution of $220.6 Million to Eligible Creditors 

    29/08/2025

    Court to Hear Fed Governor Lisa Cook’s Suit Against Trump on Friday

    29/08/2025

    Crucial Ethena ENA Deposit to Binance Sparks Market Interest

    29/08/2025
  • MarketCap
NBTC News
Home»NFT»how NFTs became a global brand and a Web3 “social currency”
NFT

how NFTs became a global brand and a Web3 “social currency”

NBTCBy NBTC02/08/2025No Comments5 Mins Read
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email


In 2021, during the NFT boom, four university students launched a collection of 8,888 digital penguins on Ethereum. In just 19 minutes, the Pudgy Penguins were sold out at 0.03 ETH each. In a few months, the floor price exceeded 2.5 ETH and the project seemed destined to enter the history of PFP.

Then came the crisis: roadmaps not followed, accusations of poor management, and the feeling that Pudgy Penguins could become “yet another failed JPEG.” At the beginning of 2022, the community removed the founders. Was it the end? In reality, it was just the beginning.

  • Luca Netz and the rebirth of Pudgy Penguins: from NFT collection to multimillion-dollar IP
  • A unique business model: NFTs that generate cash flow
  • From Lil Pudgys to Pudgy World: expanding the ecosystem
  • PENGU: the token as a “social currency”
  • NFT in an ETF? A historic turning point
  • The power of the community: from the “Huddle” to big brands
  • Why Pudgy Penguins is a case study for the future of NFTs

Luca Netz and the rebirth of Pudgy Penguins: from NFT collection to multimillion-dollar IP

In April 2022, the entrepreneur Luca Netz purchased the project for about 750 ETH (approximately 2.5 million dollars) and outlined a clear vision: “Transform Pudgy Penguins into the Disney of Web3”. The new team understood that the key was to go beyond NFT speculation and build a true intellectual property (IP) capable of generating real revenue.

The plan was based on three pillars:

  • Building a mainstream brand: characters with emotional design, storytelling, and viral social content.
  • Physical and digital merchandising: toys, plushies, and licenses in thousands of stores.
  • Engage the community: give NFT holders an active role and royalties through the OverpassIP platform.

The result? Over 2 million toys sold in less than two years, more than 13 million dollars in retail revenue, and partnerships with Walmart, Amazon, and Target. Pudgy Penguins has gone from JPEG to pop phenomenon.

A unique business model: NFTs that generate cash flow

The true revolution of the Pudgy Penguins is not just aesthetic, but economic. With OverpassIP, NFT holders can license their penguins for physical products and receive royalties. In practice, the holders become a sort of “shareholders” of the IP.

“NFTs should not live on hype alone. They must create real value. With Pudgy Penguins, we have connected the digital world to retail, and this is just the beginning”

– Luca Netz.

This model has made the Pudgy a unique case study: NFTs that are not limited to speculation, but that have real cash flow linked to the commercial success of the brand.

From Lil Pudgys to Pudgy World: expanding the ecosystem

The evolution did not stop at the plush toys. The team expanded the universe with:

  • Lil Pudgys: 22,222 mini penguin NFTs, conceived as a brand extension.
  • Animated series and viral memes: the official GIFs on GIPHY have surpassed 50 billion views, more than Hello Kitty and Pokémon.
  • Pudgy World: platform that connects physical toys and digital avatars through QR code, bringing the Pudgy into the consumer metaverse.

The mix of storytelling, physical products, and social content has transformed the Pudgy Penguins into a recognizable IP even outside the crypto world.

PENGU: the token as a “social currency”

“`html

In December 2024, PENGU arrived, the official token of the Pudgy Penguins on the Solana blockchain. Initially seen as a memecoin, it was defined by Luca Netz as a “social currency”, a currency designed to fuel interactions, games, and applications in the Pudgy ecosystem.

“`

With over 860,000 total holders on Solana and Abstract Chain, PENGU is today one of the most widespread Web3 tokens. Part of the supply was airdropped to NFT holders and other communities, creating a bridge between different worlds.

NFT in an ETF? A historic turning point

The growth of Pudgy Penguins has opened the door to an unprecedented experiment: a hybrid ETF that includes both the PENGU token (80-95%) and the Pudgy Penguins NFTs (5-15%). The proposal, presented by Canary Capital and supported by Cboe BZX, has already received the acknowledgment of the SEC in July 2025.

If approved, it would be the first ETF to combine tokens and NFTs, opening a new era for traditional finance and Web3.

The power of the community: from the “Huddle” to big brands

Behind the success of the Pudgy is an active and loyal community, nicknamed Huddle. Celebrities like Steph Curry and Alexis Ohanian, along with brands like Coinbase and Animoca Brands, have adopted Pudgy Penguins as profile pictures, pushing the project to a mainstream scale.

The mix of viral memes and organic engagement has made the Pudgy a cultural phenomenon, not just a crypto project.

Why Pudgy Penguins is a case study for the future of NFTs

With OverpassIP, global merchandising, PENGU token, and even an ETF proposal, Pudgy Penguins has demonstrated that NFTs can:

  • Create real IPs beyond the hype.
  • Generate tangible revenues shared with the community.
  • Building bridges between Web3 and the mainstream world.

It is the first project to unite NFT, consumer brand, tokenomics, and traditional finance in a single ecosystem.

Pudgy Penguins is no longer just an NFT collection: it is a living experiment on how Web3, IP, and community can create real and lasting value. With millions of toys sold, a token with hundreds of thousands of holders, and the hypothesis of an ETF, Luca Netz’s penguins are charting a new path for the industry.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
NBTC

Related Posts

Base claims top 3 spot in 30-day NFT volume: DappRadar

27/08/2025

Blue chip NFTs sink double digits as ETH retreats from record highs

26/08/2025

floor down up to 18% in the last week (week ended August 26, 2023), volumes still robust

26/08/2025

What’s Behind the Double-Digit Declines?

26/08/2025
Add A Comment

Comments are closed.

Top Posts
Get Informed

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest news from NBTC regarding crypto, blockchains and web3 related topics.

Your source for the serious news. This website is crafted specifically to for crazy and hot cryptonews. Visit our main page for more tons of news.

We're social. Connect with us:

Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn RSS
Top Insights

Falcon Finance Launches $10M Onchain Insurance Fund

29/08/2025

Celsius to Begin 3rd Distribution of $220.6 Million to Eligible Creditors 

29/08/2025

Court to Hear Fed Governor Lisa Cook’s Suit Against Trump on Friday

29/08/2025
Get Informed

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest news from NBTC regarding crypto, blockchains and web3 related topics.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.