Pudgy Penguins NFT Project closes its 750 Sale as it Undergoes New Leadership

Following the close of its long-awaited 750 ETH ($2.5 million) sale, the Pudgy Penguins NFT project is under new leadership.

The LA-based entrepreneur Luca Netz leads a group that will take over the project and its royalties from the original four co-founders. According to several individuals, Netz will be the new leader of “The Huddle” along with his partner Cameron Moulène and other stakeholders. Along with other rights, control over the project will give the buyers the right to launch a token and conduct airdrops to other holders of the NFT series.

“This deal’s taken way longer than I thought,” said Netz, who last spoke with CoinDesk in January.

Last Friday, the price of Pudgy Penguin NFTs spiked on the OpenSea marketplace as the deal closing rumors circulated in the NFT community. The Penguin’s floor prices surged as high as 2.5 ETH after trading bounced from 0.7 ad 1.4 ETH in the last few weeks. At the time of this writing, the cheapest token in the collection is priced at 2.2 ETH.

“Everything is aligned to make this one of the most prevalent projects of all time,” said Netz, who declined to comment on specific roadmap items but hinted at least one retail partnership.

The Pudgy Penguins NFT collection is currently known as one of the most popular collections in the world, with over 49,000 ether (~$171 million) in trade volume on the OpenSea NFT marketplace.

The collection has been featured in a New York Times column last year, as it has garnered the attention of several celebrities such as NBA All-Star Steph Curry and rapper Tory Lanez.

“Penguins were my first NFT purchase,” Netz told CoinDesk. “It’s an interesting emotion to feel when looking at an NFT project,” said Netz. “The collections that evoke emotion are the most powerful.”

“They were so darn cute and everyone loved them,” said Twitter user JoeyMooose of the project’s initial reception.

When asked about a possible Pudgy Penguin toy, Netz responded, “It would be fiscally irresponsible if I didn’t do that.”

Rumors also circulated Friday that the long-awaited Pudgy Penguins token would be announced, further fueling the penguin buying frenzy.

“Speculative fervor is beginning to emerge around NFT floors when there’s the expectation of tokenization, even if it’s often just rumors,” said Twitter user GiganticRebirth, an influential member of the Pudgy Penguins community who holds the rare Ghost Penguin.

“With tokenization, it strengthens the thesis that NFTs will serve as yield-bearing assets.”

Source: Coindesk