Penguin images lead a new trend in the encryption world culture

Recently, a group of adorable penguin images has quietly transformed the cultural narrative of the encryption world. Over the past weekend, several well-known encryption projects coincidentally changed their social media avatars to images of chubby penguins. This seemingly fun social interaction actually reflects the industry's recognition of the long-term spirit and brand strategy of Pudgy Penguins. This chubby penguin is driving the grassroots experiment in encryption towards mainstream culture.

The Fat Penguin Becomes a Hot Topic Again, What is the Secret Behind the "Rebirth" of the Small Image?

Recently, Pudgy Penguins has sparked a wave of avatar craze in the mainstream encryption circle. Several heavyweight institutions in the industry, including a certain trading platform, a certain NFT trading platform, and a certain investment company, have changed their official social media avatars to the secondary creative images of Pudgy Penguins.

This is not the first time Pudgy Penguins has sparked a collective "head swap" trend. As early as the end of 2024, after completing a large-scale airdrop aimed at the community, certain NFT trading platforms, co-founders of certain public chains, and the U.S. branch of a certain trading platform were among the first to change their avatars to the chubby penguins.

On World Penguin Day on April 26, 2025, Pudgy Penguins officially released a commemorative poster, with multiple well-known organizations responding, including an investment company, a DEX lab, a wallet, another investment company, and a trading platform, all successively releasing avatars related to the pudgy penguins.

The reason behind various encryption projects changing their avatars is not solely due to the personal influence of the founder of Pudgy Penguins, nor is it just because of the cute visual style of the chubby penguins. It more reflects the industry's support and recognition of its constructive narrative and long-termism culture. Many founders in the encryption field are themselves holders of chubby penguin NFTs.

During the hottest period of the NFT market, changing avatars to famous NFTs became a social ritual for encryption players to showcase their identity and taste. However, as the market cooled down and speculative capital retreated, many once-popular avatars were taken down, and NFTs were even labeled as investment failures.

Compared to other NFT projects that ultimately fell into decline due to capital speculation, the key to Pudgy Penguins' successful business transformation lies in clear strategic planning, strong operational capabilities, and narrative-building abilities. Since the decline of the NFT market in 2022, Pudgy Penguins has not been affected by market sentiment; instead, it has actively engaged in IP licensing and commercial implementation, leveraging its unique and adorable penguin image to showcase a vivid story about brand building, cultural operation, and long-termism.

This is thanks to the visionary and resourceful core operator Luca Netz, whose brand management and operational approach align more with the aesthetics of traditional markets, which greatly distinguishes him from the insular thinking of many NFT project founders.

Pudgy Penguins has partnered with several retail giants to launch a series of physical toys, achieving sales that surpass traditional strong IPs like Disney and Transformers. They have also collaborated with top Hollywood agencies and well-known children's book publishers to continuously expand derivative content. At the same time, they are developing products like Pudgy Party and Pengu Clash, utilizing a high-recognition aesthetic language, combined with offline toys, e-commerce, social content, and IP licensing, to build a long-term brand and penetrate mainstream culture.

They also create viral spread through mainstream social platforms and engage in auctions, exhibitions in Times Square, and hosting real-world events, significantly increasing brand exposure and public awareness. This multidimensional marketing and communication strategy helps Pudgy Penguins continuously expand its global influence, with the active audience size rapidly growing to millions. According to Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz, as of July 2025, the global audience for Pudgy Penguins has reached 87.4 million, with expectations to approach or exceed the target of 100 million by the end of the year, demonstrating tremendous growth potential.

It is precisely the traditional business style operation of Pudgy Penguins that breaks the stereotype of speculation dominating the NFT and even the entire encryption market, showcasing the true value and development potential of Web3 brands to the traditional world, making more and more traditional institutions willing to "pay" for the fat penguins. Of course, for investors, the development path of Pudgy Penguins not only brings a price threshold but also tests the perception of trends, insight into business models, and judgment of ecological development.

Opening the Mainstream Market Door with the Help of Financial Giants

The brand imagination of Pudgy Penguins is not limited to IP narrative creation. A penguin IP that was originally only active in the encryption community and gained popularity with its cute image has surprisingly made its way onto the stage of the traditional financial market. Driving this cross-border breakthrough is a well-established investment management company.

In June 2024, an investment company unexpectedly changed its social media avatar to Pudgy Penguins and publicly stated, "The boss thinks it's too cute; we have to change the avatar." This is not only a light-hearted cultural interaction but also signals that traditional financial giants are actively embracing native encryption IP.

Subsequently, the investment company not only used the image of a chubby penguin in its promotional video for the Ethereum ETF launched in 2024, but also partnered with Pudgy Penguins to ring the opening bell on NASDAQ when launching the recently introduced DAPP ETF product. This marks the first time a Web3 native IP has appeared on the global capital market stage, bringing unprecedented brand exposure to Pudgy Penguins and symbolizing its formal recognition by the financial industry.

The investment company supporting Pudgy Penguins seems to be a strategy of leveraging publicity. In the promotional activities for the NASDAQ bell-ringing ceremony, the company introduced the event on its official website, LinkedIn, TikTok, and other platforms aimed at traditional investors and mainstream media in a relatively neutral and objective tone, emphasizing its encryption layout. However, on social media platforms active in the encryption community, the company did not particularly highlight the specific details of the bell-ringing. The Pudgy Penguins publicity team, on the other hand, vigorously released information on relevant social platforms, sparking widespread discussion in the encryption community.

Regarding the recent trend of the Fat Penguins changing avatars, the head of Web3 at the investment firm further explained that people are more focused on culture rather than history. Some well-known NFT projects, although having an indisputable historical status, inherently carry a kind of "aloof" temperament, making it difficult to achieve content co-creation or collaborative dissemination with brands. Other projects that once occupied cultural heights have always carried a sense of distance, resembling more a bragged collection rather than a cultural symbol that truly represents the user's identity. In contrast, Pudgy Penguins are cute, friendly, and have MEME potential, making them naturally suitable for dissemination. They are friendly enough for brands, children, and a broader mainstream audience, while still maintaining the intrinsic spirit of Web3. They do not exist to be "cool" but strive to be "adorable." This culture can be shared, imitated, and participated in. It spreads through forms such as memes, toys, language, and stories, inspiring public participation. For this reason, more and more companies are willing to create content around Pudgy, recognize its value, and actively join this cultural narrative. The head believes that mere historical value is insufficient to maintain current influence. What truly drives the continuous evolution of brands and communities is the infectiousness and resonance of culture. Now, Pudgy Penguins are defining a new cultural atmosphere.

More groundbreaking is that Pudgy Penguins is opening up a path towards advanced financial products. According to public news, a certain exchange has submitted application documents for the Canary PENGU ETF to the U.S. SEC and has initiated a public comment period of about 21 days. This ETF product will directly hold Pudgy Penguins ecological assets (including PENGU tokens/NFTs). If it successfully passes review in the future, PENGU will become the first U.S. ETF product to directly hold MEME or NFT, gradually becoming a core allocation target in mainstream investment portfolios.

Currently, the market sentiment for Pudgy Penguins has been driven up, and its ecosystem has followed suit. The floor price of Pudgy Penguins NFTs has reached 14.19 ETH, setting a new high for the past six months; the token PENGU has hit $0.03, with a 30-day increase of 192.7%, not far from its historical high.

Overall, from the small profile pictures to cultural consumption brands, and then to financial asset targets, the comeback story of Pudgy Penguins not only establishes itself as a visual asset that can be commercialized, socialized, and even financialized, but also marks a phased victory belonging to the encryption elite culture.