Interest in the NFT collection of Pudgy Penguins is growing rapidly. The volume of daily trading of NFT tokens on the Ethereum network exceeded $11 million. The increased demand for non-fungible tokens pushed the price of penguins to unprecedented levels. The minimum cost for one of the elements of the collection on the secondary market of OpenSea is 2.3 ETH ($7.4 thousand).
The Pudgy Penguins set consists of 8,888 cartoon penguins, assembled from a variety of random parts. All birds have different accessories: multi-colored T-shirts, glasses, hats, scarves and other items of clothing. They also have different hairstyles, and some of the penguins have horns. The initial offer of the NFT collection was generated and sold within 3 weeks.
The story behind the Pudgy Penguin #5729 collection testifies to the rise in popularity. This NFT was sold for 2.5 ETH ($8k) on August 12th. Previously, it was bought for only 0.33 ETH (about $1,000). Even 7 days before, it was sold for 0.03 ETH (less than $100). The initial run sold out quickly and the NFTs were all minted about three weeks ago, but they have skyrocketed on Twitter in just the last few days. When Reddit co-founder and high-profile investor Alexis Ohanian tweeted out his Pudgy Penguin, it seemed like confirmation that the collecting craze was on fire.
As for the most expensive copy of the Pudgy Penguin collection, this is an ordinary penguin on a green background. Its main feature is that this particular bird in the image is looking to the left. Also in the picture there are other subtle unique attributes. It was sold for 150 WETH ($484 thousand), an Ethereum-pegged token. Now the new owner of the lot wants to sell a copy for 1000 ETH ($3.2 million).
The other day, many analytical business publications writing about cryptocurrency pointed to an unexpected rise in the price of Pudgy Penguins NFT. The cost of non-fungible tokens of this project increased by 53.6% in just a day. Experts attribute this to the fact that a tireless scandal has flared up inside the company at the moment. So, a few days ago, the co-founders of Pudgy Penguins NFT began actively discussing the possibility of splitting the project into equal parts in a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The reason was the leaders' distrust of their team.
The above collection was launched on the Ethereum distributed ledger in mid-summer 2021. At the very beginning, the project consisted of 8,888 avatars of cartoon penguins. Each of them is individual. The collection was instantly sold out in auctions on OpenSea by supporters of the NFT space. The development team at that time earned 266.64 ETH.
In addition, a month after the release of the collection, the authoritative edition of The New York Times wrote about it. The growing popularity of the project, thanks to publications in well-known media, helped him earn another $ 145 million.
As you might expect, the growing demand for Pudgy Penguins is pushing their prices sky-high. At the time of this writing, the minimum price on the secondary market of OpenSea is 2.3 ETH, which means that the cheapest one you can buy right now costs just over $7,000. Earlier this afternoon it was 1.85 ETH (around $5,700). The hype is real and the market is responding in kind.
