Pudgy Penguins

Contract address: 0xBd3531dA5CF5857e7CfAA92426877b022e612cf8

What Is the Pudgy Penguins NFT Collection?

Pudgy Penguins is a collection of 8,888 unique NFTs featuring cute cartoon penguins, which are generated from a collection of 150 different hand-drawn traits. The motto behind the NFT collection is “spreading good vibes across the meta.” 

Launched on 22 July 2021, the Pudgy Penguin collection sold out within 19 minutes and had an original mint price of 0.3 ETH. Just a week later, the floor price of the collection had already increased to 2.4 ETH. On the 13 of August 2022, the rarest Pudgy (#6873) was sold for 400 ETH. 

Who Is the Team Behind Pudgy Penguins?

The Pudgy Penguins were originally founded by a team of 4 college students –  Mrtubby, Mickyj, Jonah, and Cole. However, the team allegedly was not able to follow their initial promises to the community, such as launching a children's book and a metaverse. 

In April 2022, the Pudgy Penguin NFT collection was acquired by Luca Netz (Luca Schnetzle) for $2.5 million. Luca Netz is a well-known Los Angeles entrepreneur, and along with his team, have since worked hard to rebrand the collection. 

Currently, the Pudgy Penguin team consists of Lorenzo Melendez (CTO), Nicholas Ravid (CMO), Peter Lobanov (CCO), Jennifer Mcglone (CLO), and Dr. Kaizu (Head Of Operations). 

What Is the Utility of the Pudgy Penguins Collection?

Holders of Pudgy Penguins are known as “Pengus” or “The Huddle,” and they are given access to a number of exclusive benefits such as exclusive events and experiences. 

Pudgy Penguin holders get exclusive access to exclusive events, such as meetups, parties, and concerts. These meetups, which are usually held in major cities around the world, allow holders to interact with other holders, building a strong supportive community. 

Pudgy holders are also able to license and use their penguins for marketing purposes.

The Pudgy Penguins Ecosystem

Other than the Pudgy Penguin NFT collection, the team also produces official expansions to give away to Pudgy Holders. 

One such expansion is the Lil Pudgy NFT collection which was introduced in December 2021. The Lil Pudgy is a collection of 22,222 NFTs, of which 8,888 were given complimentary to Pudgy Penguin holders, and the remaining 13,334 were sold in a public sale. According to the website, the Lil Pudgys collection is of northern descent and are allies in the fight against the evil bears of negativity.

In January 2023, the Lil Pudgy NFT collection announced a partnership with LayerZero, which enabled cross-chain functionality, allowing Lil Pudgy NFTs to travel across different chains such as Polygon, the BNB Smart Chain, and Arbitrum.

Pudgy holders were also able to claim the Pudgy Rod NFT collection for free. The Pudgy Rod NFT collection is meant to be a companion collection of fishing rods that the Pudgys would use. However, during the reveal of the NFTs, the community was disappointed, and the founders faced negative backlash. 

On 18 May 2023, the team announced the release of physical Pudgy Penguin merchandise, which was based on the Pudgy Penguins IP.

Social Media Presence 

The Pudgy Penguin collection also has an impressive social media presence apart from the typical NFT collector audience. On Instagram, the Pudgy Penguin collection posts a series of cute short videos and encouraging posts, which has garnered the project a massive following of 696K followers. 

The same can be said of its Tiktok account, which has garnered 1.7 million likes and 67K followers, from its short-form video content. While these videos and posts are not necessarily related to the NFT sphere, they give the Pudgy Penguins a personality, increasing the visibility of the project.