Is Pudgy Penguins a good investment in 2025?

From a collection once praised but nearly forgotten, Pudgy Penguins has transformed into a strong brand, thanks to a "coup" led by the community and a new strategic investor.

Currently, with the launch of the PENGU token, the future of this project has become the focus of attention.

The story began in July 2021 when 8,888 animated Pengu on the Ethereum blockchain (ETH) were sold out in less than half an hour.

The collection created by four university students quickly caught the attention of the media, even appearing in The New York Times, causing its value to skyrocket. However, this hype soon subsided.

The initial founding team promised to develop a game and publish educational books but failed to do so, even being suspected of draining the project's funds.

The "The Huddle" community has not stood still and decided to vote to remove the founders, demonstrating the immense power that a decentralized group can hold.

That was when entrepreneur Luca Netz entered the fray. In April 2022, he acquired the entire project for 750 ETH, equivalent to about 2.5 million USD. Instead of merely viewing it as a digital collection, Netz aimed to develop Pudgy Penguins into a global brand.

He discarded the old plan, established a new team, and focused on bringing the penguin image to real life. The first product was a physical toy, quickly appearing on the shelves at Walmart, Target, and Walgreens, bringing in over 13 million USD in revenue from more than 1 million products sold.

Each toy is equipped with a QR code, allowing buyers to access Pudgy World – an open digital space that cleverly attracts mainstream users to Web3.

The game that was once promised has now become a reality: Pudgy World, an open-world game on the zkSync network, is designed for both NFT collectors and toy owners.

To operate this expanding universe, the PENGU token was launched in December 2024 on the Solana blockchain network. With a total supply of 88.88 billion tokens, PENGU is expected to be the official currency of the penguin ecosystem.

Half of this is allocated for community development programs such as airdrops, 29% belongs to the project team ( which will be gradually unlocked over time ) and about 12% is used to maintain liquidity in the trading market.

PENGU is designed as the main currency unit in Pudgy World, helping users purchase exclusive goods, participate in governance, and receive rewards when staking.

The value of PENGU is closely tied to the original NFT collection, which has surged significantly under Netz, with a recent floor price of 16.19 ETH. The market capitalization of the collection once surpassed that of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, reaching approximately 559 million USD.

PENGU has high volatility like most memecoins but also shows the potential for strong increases when there is good news. Technical analysis indicates that this memecoin is breaking out of the correction zone, opening up short-term price increase opportunities, although risks still exist.

So, what could push PENGU higher in 2025? According to recent analysis, PENGU could drop to the support level of $0.37 if sellers dominate.

However, if the demand continues to be sustained and the selling pressure is fully absorbed, PENGU may retest the level of $0.45 and then aim for $0.50.

This depends on the token being listed on more major exchanges, expanding cooperation with large brands like NASCAR and Lufthansa, successfully launching games alongside new media products.

Nevertheless, PENGU faces many challenges: the strong volatility of the memecoin market, dependence on the health of the Pudgy Penguins brand, and potentially sudden changes in legal regulations.

Pudgy Penguins has escaped the "NFT graveyard" thanks to a comprehensive brand development strategy, combining physical products and digital assets. This is a significant advantage that many competitors do not have.

However, whether these penguins can fly far will depend on maintaining the current momentum and turning it into a sustainable empire in the currently volatile market.

Vincent