Pudgy Penguins’ PENGU Token Sees 13% Rally Despite Dipping NFT Sales

PENGU Token Climbs 250% in Just Over a Week

At the time of publication, Pudgy Penguins’ native token, PENGU, was trading at $0.040, marking a significant surge of 250% since its launch on December 17. The token has emerged as one of the top performers in the crypto market, with a 13% climb on January 5.

Market Capitalization and Trading Volume

Initially debuting with a market cap of $2.8 billion, PENGU has since dipped to $2.5 billion, according to CoinGecko. This fluctuation may be attributed to large holders cashing out, taking advantage of the rally. Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain reported a new wallet withdrawing 84 million PENGU – worth $3.13 million – from Binance on January 4.

NFT Sales Decline Amidst Token’s Price Growth

Despite PENGU’s price growth, Pudgy Penguins’ NFT sales have dropped by 52% in the last seven days, according to data from CryptoSlam. This decline may be a cause for concern for investors and fans of the project.

Community Engagement Remains High

In contrast to the declining NFT sales, the project continues to capture public interest, thanks in part to its viral GIF and sticker strategy. The project recorded over 1.1 billion views for its stickers and GIFs in the first five days of January.

Berko Crypto, community lead at Pudgy Penguins, commented on January 3: "In just the first few days of 2025, Pudgy penguins had billions of GIF views, Telegram stickers experiment sold out in record time, hundreds of thousands of new penguins with actual stake in the game, viral Instagram and TikTok campaigns."

Expansion Plans for PENGU Token

PENGU currently operates on Solana but plans to expand to Ethereum and Abstract, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution developed by Igloo Inc. The token’s total supply is 88.88 billion, with 25.9% allocated for Pudgy Penguin NFT holders via airdrop claims.

While no official use case for PENGU has been confirmed, the token is expected to play a role in governance and potentially access exclusive perks within the ecosystem, according to Bybit. Crypto trader Pentoshiteased the possibility of future airdrops for PENGU holders: "$PENGU holders to receive Abstract (potentially another 6 fig + airdrop. You may potentially qualify by getting the Pengu holder role and Pengu enjoyer roles in the Pudgy discord."

Pudgy Penguin NFT Sales Slide

Over the past week, total sales dropped to $5.5 million – a 52% decrease since the previous week. NFT transactions fell by 51%, while buyers and sellers plummeted by 56% and 41%, respectively.

Comparison with Other Top NFT Collections

This week’s top NFT collections by sales show Pudgy Penguins’ significant decline. In comparison, Azuki saw sales fall by 17.65%, while DMarket on Mythos bucked the trend with a 10.43% increase in sales. Launched in 2021, Pudgy Penguins has grown to become the second-largest NFT collection by market cap, valued at $721 million, trailing behind CryptoPunks at $1.4 billion, according to NFT Price Floor.

Partnerships and Market Growth

The project has secured partnerships with retail giants Walmart and Target to stock Pudgy Penguins-licensed toys in-store, leading to more than one million toy sales.