FROM MINT TO MAINSTREAM: Pudgy Penguins Celebrate Five Years Of The Huddle!

On this day five years ago, the Huddle hatched on the Ethereum, and they've been waddling toward the mainstream ever since. And today, the entire crypto space came out to celebrate them!

What began as an 8,888 piece NFT collection that minted for just 0.03 ETH or about $80 at the time has grown into one of the biggest consumer brands in all of crypto and the world, with trading cards and plushies in nearly 2,000 Target stores, an IP that has generated billions of views, a memecoin valued in the hundreds of millions, and an ecosystem of more than 30,000 big and little fat, flightless birds that peng-liferate the brand every single day!

 

But the march of the penguins hasn't always been easy.

From their icy beginnings under the project's original founders to Luca Netz's acquisition and turnaround, the Penguins have become one of, if not the greatest, comeback stories in all of crypto.

 

“Think about where this started,” Pengu maxi SolidTradez tweeted. “A collection of penguin JPEGs launched into a market that treated NFTs as a casino, at a time when every project was promising a metaverse and delivering a Discord Almost all of them are gone now  @pudgypenguins did the opposite of what the industry did. While everyone else optimized for the next mint, they went and built a consumer brand.”

To celebrate the Huddle's fifth anniversary, Pudgy Penguins holders, Pengu maxis, and even some of the biggest companies in crypto flooded the timeline with birthday wishes, memories, and a healthy dose of "I am my Penguin, and my Penguin is me."

 

“Happy 5th Birthday, Pudgy Penguins,” Pudgy Penguins huddler Burnasso tweeted. “ Some projects create collections. The rare ones create culture. And from culture, everything else becomes possible. Thank you for five unforgettable years of friendship, creativity, and joy. Here’s to the next five. Waddle on.”

The Gazette wishes Pudgy Penguins a very happy fifth birthday and looks forward to covering the Huddle for many more years to come. Stay tuned for updates!