From Avatar to Multidimensional Ecology: The Rise of Fat Penguin's Web3 Brand

Recently, there has been a wave of avatar trends in the crypto circle, with numerous industry institutions changing their official Twitter avatars to the Pudgy Penguins' derivative images. This trend has swept through mainstream crypto trading platforms, and even traditional financial giants with a 70-year history have joined in. In June of this year, an asset management company even brought Pudgy Penguin physical dolls to Nasdaq to ring the bell, bringing this Web3 IP into the mainstream financial field.

This wave of enthusiasm has significantly driven the price performance of assets related to the Fat Penguin. As of July 17, its ecological token $PENGU has increased by over 216% in nearly a month, with a market capitalization once exceeding $2.8 billion. At the same time, the trading volume of Fat Penguin NFTs has grown to $13.726 million, an increase of 111% compared to last month.

The Diverse Ecosystem of the Fat Penguin

Since the decline of the NFT market in 2022, Pudgy Penguins has not been swayed by market sentiment. On the contrary, it has actively expanded its IP licensing and commercialization, relying on its uniquely cute penguin image, showcasing a successful case of brand building and cultural operation. Today, Pudgy Penguins has evolved into the core brand of a diversified ecosystem, covering multiple areas including Ethereum Layer 2 networks based on ZK architecture, gaming applications, MEME, NFT lottery platforms, as well as offline toys and consumer goods.

According to official data, as of July, Pudgy Penguins toy sales have exceeded $10 million, the number of users in the gaming sector has reached 60,000, and there are approximately 2.5 million cumulative active users on its Layer 2 network. These figures indicate that Pudgy Penguins is transforming into a Web3 super IP with user scale effects, product commercialization capabilities, and blockchain infrastructure capabilities.

1. Physical Ecology

The Pudgy Toys series is one of the most successful commercial landing cases of the Fat Penguin. Since its initial launch in May 2023, the series quickly climbed to the best-selling list on a certain e-commerce platform, with sales exceeding $10 million, and subsequently successfully entered over 10,000 large retail stores across the United States. The rich product line and innovative NFT licensing revenue binding mechanism provide a new idea for commercialization pathways in the NFT industry.

2. Game Section

The gaming sector is one of the key areas that Pudgy Penguins is focusing on. In May of this year, the 1V1 turn-based battle game Pengu Clash was launched in a certain public blockchain ecosystem, attracting over 60,000 players in its first week. Another multiplayer survival challenge game, Pudgy Party, is expected to be launched in the summer of 2025, with its official Twitter followers nearing 100,000. By launching lightweight games that align with users' social habits and entertainment needs, Pudgy Penguins is expanding its IP influence and attracting more users into its ecosystem.

3. Layer2 Network Ecosystem

The company behind Pudgy Penguins has jointly developed an Ethereum Layer 2 network based on ZK-rollup technology. This network adopts a wallet solution that does not require seed phrases and a user-centered design philosophy, aiming to lower the user threshold and expand the popularity of consumer-level application scenarios. As of July 18, the total value locked (TVL) of the network reached 42.6M (a year-on-year increase of 533% since the beginning of the year), and the number of active users on the network remained in the range of 50K-200K.

The network supports a diverse ecosystem including Pudgy Penguins-related games, NFT applications, and more. Among them, the more popular projects include:

• Official mascot MEME token: As of July 17, its market cap has risen to 37.6M, currently making it the highest market cap MEME coin in the Fat Penguin ecosystem.

• Lottery project tokens: Users can participate in the platform's lottery activities by purchasing tokens, with prizes including currently popular NFTs such as Goblintown, Moonbirds, etc.

Future Development Potential

In the short term, there are three trends in the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem worth noting:

1. A certain crypto asset management institution has submitted an application to the SEC to launch a spot ETF product based on $PENGU. If approved, this will become the world's first ETF product with an underlying asset based on a native NFT project, which is not only of milestone significance but will also bring unprecedented institutional recognition to $PENGU.

2. Its Layer 2 network is accelerating its development. The CEO of Pudgy Penguins has stated that the network is expected to launch its Token Generation Event (TGE) by the end of this year. This will provide stronger incentives and collaborative expectations for ecosystem participants, further boosting the popularity of native projects including PENGU, MEME tokens, and lottery platforms.

3. The multiplayer survival challenge game is expected to launch this summer and has already garnered significant attention within the community. As the official launch of the game approaches, characters such as MEME within the ecosystem are expected to achieve content integration and gameplay fusion within the game, further strengthening brand loyalty and enhancing ecosystem enthusiasm.

The current Pudgy Penguins has far surpassed the scope of traditional NFT projects, evolving into a composite Web3 brand that encompasses IP, physical products, games, and infrastructure. Starting from the initial avatar IP, it has successively expanded into offline consumer goods, light social games, Layer 2 infrastructure, and then to MEME tokens and lottery platforms, gradually building a composite ecological closed loop that spans both virtual and real worlds, multi-chain, and multiple scenarios. This is also the main reason why Pudgy Penguins has maintained market activity despite the ongoing slump in the NFT market.

Risk Warning

The information provided in this article is for reference only and should not be considered as any investment advice. Cryptocurrency investments are highly speculative and carry significant risks. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The value of digital currencies can be highly volatile, and trading may involve significant risks. Please carefully consider whether to participate in related investments based on your individual circumstances.