Non-fungible tokens, often known as NFTs, have taken the globe by storm, and there is no indication that their rising popularity will abate in the near future. The widespread use of NFTs didn’t start until 2021, but it’s only gaining momentum now that it’s finally here.
Because NFTs are one-of-a-kind and cannot be traded for other assets, it is possible to demonstrate digital ownership by putting the associated metadata on a blockchain. This metadata is a link to the image of an image, which indicates that the actual image itself is not stored on the blockchain because doing so would be prohibitively expensive. Instead, it is kept in a location that is accessible from the outside, such as IPFS.
There are a plethora of options available when it comes to the production of NFTs. You have the option of doing it out manually, or you can utilize the technologies developed by NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea and Rarible. Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, and a number of other cryptocurrencies are examples of the many different multichain solutions that are currently available in the cryptocurrency industry. However, it is inevitable that more complicated blockchains would involve different compromises in terms of speed, cost, usage, and safety.
NFTs are mostly utilized in the art and collections industries at this time; however, their applications in the gaming, music, and sports collectibles industries have begun to emerge. Because they may be used to verify ownership, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can be utilized to offer unique benefits in the form of access cards.
At the moment, collectors are willing to spend a significant amount of money to acquire crypto artwork. Beeple, a digital artist, became the third-most expensive living artist after selling his work “Everydays – The First 5000 Days” at a Christie’s auction for a staggering $69 million, further propelling the craze surrounding NFTs. This sale was made possible as a result of the boom in the speculation market.
Within the realm of NFTs, the profile image (PFP) NFTs are receiving a lot of attention right now because celebrities like Jay-Z and Steve Aoki are using NFTs as their profile images on social networking sites like Twitter. Even well-known brands such as Nike and Adidas have gotten in on the action, pushing further into the realm of crypto collectibles.
One of these PFP NFTs that has captured people’s attention is called Pudgy Penguins. However, the trip of this NFT collection has not been a constant ascent; rather, it has gone through its own share of ups and downs along the way.
Who are these Pudgy Penguins, exactly?
Pudgy Penguins were introduced on July 22, 2021, as part of the expanding trend of NFT in 2021, and they were sold out in under 20 minutes after their release. The “chilling cold, arctic sector of the metaverse” is where you’ll find these adorable cartoon penguins with vibrant colors and patterns.
On the Ethereum blockchain, there are only 8,888 individual Pudgy Penguins available in total, and this quantity is strictly capped. Each of these penguins is one of a kind, which means that no two of them are identical in any way. The characteristics of these Pudgy Penguins, such as bowl cuts, a mohawk, spectacles, caps, and scarves, are chosen at random from a pool of over 150 hand-drawn options.
Even though every Pudgy Penguin has its own set of distinctive characteristics, some of those characteristics are more uncommon than others. For example, there are only 58 Pudgy Penguins that have been awarded a crown. You can view these characteristics in OpenSea by going to the “properties” section, or you can use a third-party application such as the Rarity Tool.
There are five of these penguins that were designed by the artist specifically and do not have any characteristics that were randomly generated. Because of this, they are the most unique and difficult to find. These extremely unusual Pudgy Penguins have characteristics such as outfits resembling a ghost costume, a shark costume, a pineapple costume, and a banana suit. One of the rarest species of penguin can be identified by the fact that it is facing the opposite way of every other penguin.
The most expensive Pudgy Penguin, number 6873, was first purchased for 150 WETH in August before being listed for sale at a price of 1,000 ETH. Because it was the only penguin in the collection to have its left side facing forward, its value skyrocketed.
Alexis Ohanian, a co-founder of Reddit, also became a member of the community after purchasing a chubby penguin and posting about it on Twitter, both of which contributed to the popularity of this collection. After the story about the Pudgy Penguins was featured by the New York Times, the group’s membership increased even further. Since then, coverage of it has appeared on CNBC as well as Bloomberg.
At this time, 4,433 owners have these 8,888 Pudgy Penguins NFTs in their possession. Owners of Pudgy Penguins are referred to as Hurdlers in the world of Pudgy Penguin. Their floor price, which refers to the lowest price at which it can be purchased in the market, is currently at 1.239 ETH. This is an increase from the initial price of 0.03 ETH at which it was produced.
According to CryptoSlam, Pudgy Penguins has generated a total of $155 million in revenue from its whole sales volume. [Citation needed]
Additionally, there are 22,222 Lil Pudgys, each of which is a one-of-a-kind collectible NFT that was generated at random using 400 characteristics. While the Lil Pudgy was handed to each and every Pudgy penguin holder, additional Pudgy penguins can be minted by anybody. There have been a total of 18,723 Lil Pudgys claimed or minted up until this point.
The issues at hand
The Pudgy Penguin NFT project was conceived of and initiated by a number of individuals, the most notable of whom are Ecko, Jonan, Cole, Straker XP, Wybo, Mr. Tubby Hiro, and Micah. These original team members are entitled to a tiny percentage of royalties from the sale of each NFT, and as long as trade volume remains stable, they will continue to have their wallets filled with money from these royalties.
Pudgy Penguin was embroiled in a scandal after it was discovered that Cole Thereum, one of the company’s founders, had a past that was less than spotless. Reportedly, Cole operated a company known as eBoy Outlet, which garnered an overwhelming number of negative reviews. Customers of the company said they never received their goods, refunds, or even comments to their complaints.
Cole came under fire for his previous actions, and in response, he admitted that he had previously worked as a paid shill for the NFT project, but he also stated that he is sorry for his participation in earlier endeavors. In spite of the fact that this did not help to boost faith in the project, the community moved swiftly to take action and ensure the survival of the obese and flightless Antarctic critters.
Revival: The Power of the Community
There are already a plethora of NFT projects offered on the market, and a brand new one appears approximately once every two days. Therefore, if you are interested in purchasing an NFT as an investment asset, you should examine the project based on a number of characteristics, such as the founding team, their capacity to execute, and their ability to deliver on the roadmap.
There are several factors beyond aesthetics that determine whether or not an NFT project will be successful. Art is subjective to begin with, and at this euphoric time in the cryptocurrency market, it is more important to flip non-fungible tokens for profits than it is to focus on aesthetics alone. There’s a good chance that the size and vitality of a project’s community is the single most essential aspect of an NFT.
NFTs get the majority of their value from the communities that support them, and it’s possible that only those with robust communities will be able to weather the bear market. In other instances, communities have even been successful in reviving initiatives despite the failure of the original founding team. One of the most recent examples of this is the cartoon series Pudgy Penguins.
Pudgy Penguins held a vote to remove its founders at the beginning of January 2022 after they failed to accomplish their objectives and depleted the organization’s financial resources. In addition, the community supports the idea that the project as a whole should be decentralized.
Twitter user and owner of 242 Pudgy Penguins NFTs @9x9x9eth, who has stated publicly that he has spent nearly 600 ETH on the collection and holds 242 Pudgy Penguins NFTs, including a rare “banana” penguin, told a media publication that co-founder Cole Thereum “promised a game, a token, an educational book on NFTs and more” to the community in September of last year. This information was
On the other hand, “even after a half year, they still have not yet built up the team, and they are still in the stage of hiring.” After thereafter, 9x9x9 wrote a thread on Twitter in which he claimed that the project’s creators were planning to abandon it and that they had made him an offer to buy the NFT project for 888 ETH (approximately $2.8 million), but he declined the offer.
As a result of the news, the floor price of the Pudgy Penguin increased to 1.7 ETH from its previous level of approximately 0.6 ETH.
Struggle to Take Command of
Given the robust nature of the Pudgy Penguins community, many others operating in the cryptocurrency field were ready to lend a hand to the initiative.
There have been buyout proposals made for the project, with the highest one being 750 ETH, coming from the likes of Mintable co-founder Zach Burks, Netz Capital’s Luca Netz, and NFT collector @beaniemax. However, it goes without saying that not everyone is on board with the idea of a buyout.
Other notable market participants have also brought up the notion of moving the Pudgy Penguin community to a new project called Wrapped Penguins. Current holders of Pudgy Penguins are eligible for a free mint of Wrapped Penguins on the NFT platform Metadrop. Wrapped Penguins are also available.
Wrapped Penguins intends to dissolve all links with the original founding team and replace them with the creation of a rival community and the implementation of the foundation for a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
Wrapping an asset enables the owners of a token to own an identical “wrapped” token, such as in Wrapped Ethereum (WETH) and Wrapped Bitcoin. For example, Wrapped Ethereum (WETH) and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC). A smart contract known as a wrapper accepts an asset and issues a counterpart one in exchange for it.
Pudgy Penguins NFT holders will have the opportunity to hold an identical “wrapped” penguin if this approach is utilized. The Wrapped Penguins project also guaranteed that token holders will have the ability to unwrap their token and convert it back into its original form of the NFT at any moment. According to 9x9x9’s statements to CoinDesk, Pudgy Penguins “may be the first 100% decentralized PFP project ever.”
Where Can I Purchase Fluffy Penguins?
OpenSea is the most popular marketplace in terms of the amount of transactions, thus it is the place to go if you want to buy NFT. You will need to create a cryptocurrency wallet before continuing, and we recommend using MetaMask because it is the wallet that is used the most frequently for Ethereum. After you have created your cryptocurrency wallet, you will need to fund it with some ETH, which is the native asset of the Ethereum blockchain. You will need to ensure that the amount you deposit is sufficient to cover the cost of the NFT as well as the gas fees, which are calculated based on how much the network is used.
You are now prepared to make a purchase of some Pudgy Penguins. Going to OpenSea and looking for your NFT is the first step in getting started. When you have located the item that you are interested in purchasing, click on the NFT, and you will be presented with all of the information that is relevant to it.
After that, for the NFT that you are interested in, click the “Buy Now” button or the “Make Offer” button. OpenSea will now provide the whole cost of the NFT to you, including any applicable fees. When you’ve finished making the purchase, head back to your Metamask wallet and give the transactions the green light.
Conclusion
The adoption of NFTs by the mainstream financial community is constantly increasing, and for the correct reasons. NFTs are establishing new monetization methods as well as distribution channels for creators, in addition to making it possible to demonstrate ownership of digital assets. In addition to this, technology is providing us with new avenues via which we can establish communities with those who share our values.
The creators of content and the users of that content now have a greater degree of control over the dissemination of their assets thanks to NFTs. NFTs have a huge scope with their future use cases that can span anything from finance, gaming, tickets, academic credentials, intellectual property, real estate, and any physical assets. This is true despite the fact that their current implementation is limited and not ideal.
We are only in the very early stages of the proliferation of NFTs, and it is possible that the future will look very differently from what we are currently experiencing.
Already, we have begun to see their application in DeFi protocols and their fractionalization, which helps boost the liquidity of the space as well as allows smaller players to have a part in a valuable commodity. This is something that we have begun to see already.
It’s possible that well-known NFT collections will start to become highly desired possessions in this virtual world as the metaverse continues to gain popularity. In the real world, meanwhile, NFTs can be utilized as a promotional tool for brands, celebrities, and influencers to allow access to limited offers and exclusive events in order to boost sales of the associated products.
For the time being, profile picture projects (PFP) are enjoying the most uptrend, such as Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape Yacht Club, Larva Labs’ CryptoPunks, and Pudgy Penguins, which drove the NFT boom in NFT sales last year. Other examples include CryptoPunks, which was created by Larva Labs, and Pudgy Penguins.
Even Twitter got in on the action, announcing that Twitter Blue subscribers using iOS devices will soon be able to verify their PFP NFT. These PFP NFTs will be easily identifiable because they will take the form of hexagons rather than the standard circular profile photos that are used throughout the social app. Reddit is also working on a feature that is somewhat analogous to this one. Specifically, the website is “testing the ability to use NFTs as profile pictures (avatars) and verify ownership.”
The most significant advantage of possessing a Pudgy Penguin, as with any other PFP NFT, is the ability to use it as your profile picture and thereby become a member of the general population.
