While the rest of the NFT market is in the doldrums, one collection, "Pudgy Penguins", is bucking the trend, recording a surge in trading volume. The floor price (the cheapest price to purchase an NFT from the collection) hit a record high of 3.8 ETH, a surge of more than 60% in the past week. This surge in price and volume may be related to the project's recent plan to launch physical merchandise and products.

Why?

As for the reason for the recent surge, it may be related to Pudgy Penguins' recent announcement that it has obtained community permission to launch "Pudgy Toys", an initiative focused on the creation of Pudgy branded clothing and toys. The project is officially stepping into the physical field from Web3. 

Ups and downs for the collection

When it comes to Pudgy Penguins, the most talked about topic is the story of the collection being reborn from the ashes after it was once near death.

Originally an “OG blue chip" project, due to poor team execution and mismanagement of project funds, trust in the project faded, leading to a collapse in floor prices. 

Prominent community member 9x9x9 exposed that the team siphoned away all the ETH raised, and at one stage, OpenSea temporarily removed their collection.

Community’s trust was shaken by this turn of events, and that was when @LucaNetz, a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur in the DTC (Direct to customer) e-commerce space, bought the project for 750 ETH ($2.5 million at current price) in April this year, and together with his team set out to breathe new life to the Pudgy Penguins. And in just four months, their new team has already started delivering on various initiatives.

Committee of 9 to leading the project:

Alex Svanevik – CEO of Nansen

Sanjay Raghavan – Head of Roofstock We3

RJ Cilley – Chief Operating Officer, SAKS Fifth Ave

Jordan Sterlin – Meta Partnerships Team Member

Chet Kuchinad – Product Manager, Save the Children, worked at Nike and Starbucks

Bee Ngyuyen – General Partner, Limited Ventures

Jess Richardson – Head of Licensing at Hasbro Jess Richardson

Paolo Moreno- SFX Ent & Fashion Consultant

Nova Pentoshi – King of Penguins

Last not not least, a 1/1 sold for 400 ETH:

FYI this NFT is the only one facing left in the collection.

Will you grab a penguin?

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