The NFT sector, which has long been absent from the bull market feast, has recently become active. First, yesterday Magic Eden opened airdrop share inquiries, and today the leading NFT in the ETH ecosystem, Pudgy Penguins, also tweeted to announce its token launch plan for this year.
Although the specific date and distribution details have not yet been announced, the general token distribution ratio has been released, with the largest share (25.9%) allocated to the Pudgy community; meanwhile, 24.12% is allocated to other community distributions, and even 0.35% is reserved for $FTT Holders.
$PENGU token airdrop scale remains considerable, Pudgy Penguins holders are expected to receive $31,000-$61,000 (7.9 ETH-15.8 ETH) each. If Abstract Chain also provides token distribution for the penguin community, this could become one of the largest airdrop events in 2024 following HYPE.
Indeed, for projects, the biggest advantage is the ability to stimulate prices. Once the token launch news broke, the floor prices of the Pudgy Penguins and Lil Pudgys NFT series surged: the floor price of Pudgy Penguins is currently reported at 18.55 ETH (about $72,600), while Lil Pudgys is reported at 1.91 ETH (about $7,500), with daily increases close to 20% and trading volume increasing by 3-5 times.
With the NFT market warming up, can projects capture the trend to move forward?
As the overall market continues to rise, excess funds have also flowed into the NFT ecosystem. Data shows that total NFT sales have begun to recover, with daily trading volume peaking at nearly $40 million and weekly trading volume exceeding $100 million.
Blue-chip NFTs are also showing a good upward trend; within 30 days, the floor prices and trading volumes of blue-chip NFTs on the ETH mainnet have seen decent increases.
Some projects have ceased operations, while others continue to enjoy endless airdrops.
In the bear market of the past two years, compared to altcoins, the NFT sector can be said to be experiencing a double bear. In 2021, the once-glorious blue-chip NFTs like Bored Apes and Azuki faced a series of significant upheavals due to community FUD and large holder sell-offs, with prices dropping to freezing points. The market's charm for NFTs gradually diminished, and NFTs were more often seen as 'expected vouchers' for future airdrops of a project or simply as commemorative tokens, with the vast majority of NFTs losing their utility as investment/speculative assets. Even some major projects were no exception; on December 3, the once-popular NFT brand RTFKT, which was even acquired by Nike, announced it would gradually cease operations as the crypto bull market approached, which is lamentable.
Aside from sporadic hotspots for new projects, only a few blue-chip projects have maintained relative heat, and the polarization between NFT projects is becoming increasingly severe: some blue-chip NFTs, even in a bear market, still perform well. Strong community projects like Milady, Pudgy Penguins, and Madlads have received significant airdrops from various hot projects such as Ethena ($ENA), Aethir ($ATH), Zksync ($ZK), and Wormhole ($W) this year alone, with the total airdrop value far exceeding the project's floor price.
Being close to the market is clearly a path.
From the existing distribution plan, the Pudgy Penguins community clearly understands the market, and the 'customer acquisition' skills of this established top NFT are indeed impressive. Not only does the community account for the majority of the allocation, but they are also generous in distributing to other communities. This distribution plan, both internally and externally, accounts for half of the total token amount.
In addition to a large allocation for the community, Pudgy Penguins, which originated on the ETH mainnet, also specifically chose to launch on the currently hottest Solana. Indeed, whether in terms of liquidity or player sentiment, choosing the meme-crazed Solana for the cartoon NFT project Pudgy Penguins is undoubtedly a better choice for the project's price initiation.
Can NFT token launches save lives?
Choosing to announce a token launch on the most liquid Solana chain when ETH breaks new highs and market sentiment is positive, Pudgy Penguins' token launch plan is strategically successful and the market has clearly responded positively to this action.
From the price trend of $APE over the past few years, it can be seen that launching a token is not a universal remedy for NFT projects. To avoid the token launch becoming the final dance of value realization for the project party, one must look at the project party's specific 'operations' regarding price and token use cases going forward. However, one thing is certain: not only for NFT projects, but for all old projects looking to revive, grasping trends and staying close to the market is the main melody that should be followed in this bull market.
For us retail investors, no matter how much a project boasts, maintaining observation and making calm and well-informed investment decisions is the most important survival strategy in a bull market; do not chase prices impulsively.