Author: Zz, ChainCatcher

Pudgy Penguins is no longer just an NFT project; it has become an IP giant that has mastered a new paradigm of Web3 brand building. Looking back at its near-collapse in 2022 and comparing it to today, its transformation is remarkable. Recently, its NFT floor price has stabilized at 14 ETH, while its token $PENGU deployed on the Solana chain saw its market cap briefly exceed $1.8 billion in July 2025, with a 24-hour trading volume reaching as high as $2.3 billion.

This explosive rebound is not a mere speculative bubble; it is underpinned by a profound revaluation of value. It stems from a meticulously planned blitzkrieg, built on a solid business foundation, and pointing towards an imaginative future. This article will deconstruct this process, explore the ignition points, analyze its value anchors, and look ahead to answer the core question: Is the rise of Pudgy Penguins a fleeting craze, or the prologue to a new business blueprint in Web3?

Pudgy Penguins Metrics

"Institution + Social" Blitzkrieg

The initiation of this market rally stems from two key events that closely aligned in timing and mutually reinforced each other. Within just a week, they captured the attention of both institutions and retail investors, creating a perfect bullish storm in the market.

The first key event that ignited the market came from the institutional level. On July 9, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officially confirmed receipt of the 19b-4 filing submitted for the Canary PENGU ETF. This move is significant: it represents an unprecedented hybrid investment tool (planning to allocate 80-95% of assets to $PENGU tokens and 5-15% directly into Pudgy Penguins NFTs) and sends the strongest "legitimacy" signal to the traditional financial world. The market's reaction was immediate and intense; on the day the news was confirmed, the price of $PENGU surged over 23%, and futures open interest skyrocketed by 52%. This news provided the most critical "pass" for large capital to enter the market and strategically forced regulators to begin establishing valuation and custody frameworks for the NFT asset class.

After the ETF news set the stage for the institutional narrative, a carefully orchestrated social signal storm swept in. On July 11, 2025, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase changed its official avatar on the X platform to a Pudgy Penguin, instantly igniting market frenzy, with the price of $PENGU rising 60% in a short time. In the following days, industry giants like OpenSea, Binance, and OKX followed suit.

This "avatar relay" was a powerful, non-verbal collective endorsement. It provided the market with a viral retail narrative—simple, intuitive, and easily spreadable, quickly igniting FOMO sentiment. The serious narrative of the ETF and the viral spread of the avatar change worked in tandem, releasing overwhelming bullish signals to the market from various angles, reflecting the high-level strategic collaboration between the Pudgy Penguins team and key industry players.

Value Anchor—"Web2.5" Business Foundation

If the aforementioned blitzkrieg is the "ignition point," then the solid business foundation and intricate ecological layout of Pudgy Penguins are the "value anchors" that can sustain this massive flow and valuation.

Behind all the speculative enthusiasm lies a stable and growing real-world business. The Pudgy Toys series launched in 2023 has achieved tremendous success. To date, the project has sold over 1 million toys, generating over $13 million in real-world retail revenue. These toys have successfully entered over 3,100 mainstream retail channels, such as Walmart and Target, allowing its IP to reach a broad mainstream consumer base.

More importantly, this physical business directly feeds back into the digital ecosystem. Each toy comes with a QR code that converts offline consumers into new Web3 users at a conversion rate of about 20%. Additionally, through the "Overpass" IP licensing platform, NFT holders can share in the royalty income from toy sales. This "Phygital" flywheel, which moves from digital to physical and then back to digital, provides an unshakeable fundamental support for the project's value.

The Pudgy Penguins project is executing a sophisticated multi-chain strategy for refined operations.

• Ethereum: As the cornerstone of value and brand, it carries high-value, low-liquidity blue-chip NFT series (Pudgy Penguins and Lil Pudgys) aimed at core collectors.
• Solana: As the engine of performance and traffic, it deploys the high liquidity, high trading frequency $PENGU token, serving future gaming and retail users.
• Abstract Chain (proprietary L2): As the future home of the ecosystem, this Ethereum Layer 2 built on the ZKsync tech stack aims to eliminate Web3 usage barriers through technologies like account abstraction, ultimately hosting core applications within the ecosystem, such as Pudgy World.

It is worth noting that $PENGU is not the native gas token of Abstract Chain (its gas is ETH) but rather the core economic and utility token for on-chain applications. This clear multi-chain pyramid structure demonstrates how its parent company, Igloo Inc., skillfully employs Web3 tools to achieve classic business growth objectives in a "Web2.5" model.

Pudgy Penguins Ecosystem Overview

Looking Ahead: Opportunities and Risks

After a strong fundamental foundation and successful marketing, the multi-billion dollar valuation of Pudgy Penguins largely hinges on its future commitments. The upcoming fulfillment process will be its greatest test.

The next core narrative of the ecosystem is the mobile party game "Pudgy Party," developed in collaboration with renowned game developer Mythical Games, expected to launch in late summer 2025. It is positioned as the first major application scenario and core value pillar for the $PENGU token.

However, the current actual utility of $PENGU is very limited, and the market has already priced in this future gaming utility. This poses a significant "delivery risk." Delays in the release of "Pudgy Party," lukewarm market reactions, or flaws in its token economic model could lead to a substantial gap between market valuation and project reality. This will be the biggest single risk facing the PENGU token in the short term and the ultimate test of its team's execution capability.

The SEC's confirmation of the ETF application has initiated a review period that could last up to 240 days. Although the market is generally optimistic, the PENGU ETF is more complex due to its innovative structure involving NFTs. The approval results will have different impacts on the market:

• If approved, it will be a tremendous recognition of the Pudgy Penguins brand and the $PENGU token, potentially bringing in massive funds through traditional brokerage accounts, triggering a new round of price increases.
• If delayed or rejected, it will undermine the institutional narrative driving the recent rise, potentially leading to a decline in market confidence and a partial price correction.

The recent surge in asset prices for Pudgy Penguins is not baseless market frenzy but a value discovery process driven by business execution, institutional signals, and social marketing working in synergy.

Its success sets a new benchmark for the "Web2.5" model: leveraging the efficiency of a centralized company to build a global IP while cleverly using Web3 tools (NFTs, tokens) for marketing, user retention, and value sharing, enjoying the advantages of Web3 while avoiding the efficiency dilemmas of decentralized governance.

Now, Pudgy Penguins has achieved a high market valuation thanks to its strong brand and commitment to the future. The key question moving forward is: Can it successfully deliver its core product—the gaming ecosystem—thereby providing sufficient fundamental utility for the $PENGU token to support its current valuation?

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