Market Volatility Pudgy Penguin’s $1.5B PENGU Airdrop Drops on Solana
Pudgy Penguin's Pengu token has seen a wild price start to airdrop. Pengu's trading volume reached $90M within hours, with traders losing millions and others. Major exchanges list PENGU as the NFT rises in price, then falls after the token claims are sold.
The Pudgy Penguin NFT Project has made waves in the cryptocurrency world by launching PENGU, a native token of Penguin on the Solana blockchain, with a massive $1.5 billion windfall.
Launched on December 5, the PENGU token is designed to strengthen the relationship between the Pudgy Penguin brand and the growing global community.
PENGU air drop details and eligibility
The PENGU airdrop, which went live at 8:00 am ET, is open to holders of Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgies, Rogues and Soul Born Tokens (SBTs). Additionally, owners of Pudgy toys related to the Pudgy World metaverse are also eligible.
Claiming the tokens requires users to link their Solana and Ethereum wallets and hold at least $10 worth of SOL for gas payments. During the 88 day claim period, any unclaimed tokens will be permanently burned, reducing circulation supply.
Penguin and eligible parties can claim their $PENGU now.
The claim page will remain active for 88 days and the PENGU that has not been claimed will be permanently locked into the Modern Contract.
Claim here: pic.twitter.com/WZYWUEFWmc
— Pudgy Penguins (@pudgypenguins) December 17, 2024
Of the 88.88 billion Pengu tokens, 25.9% are allocated to the Pudgy Penguin community, 24.12% to other NFT holders and “huddle” members, and 17.8% to the project team with a one-year cliff and three-year grace period. Another 11.48% is reserved for companies with similar wear conditions.
Despite initial success, Pengu's launch was marred by technical issues. Claimants said there were problems, including receiving fewer tokens than allotted. A PENGU team member attributed this to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which caused delays and errors, and assured users that unclaimed tokens could still be returned.
New claim update/updates pushed ✅
Refresh and restart your claim. Your previous claim should be treated as a claim and it should show that you are still eligible to claim.
An account fix/update should follow shortly.
Appreciate everyone's patience. we had…
— Chef (@chefgoyardi) December 17, 2024
The Pudgy Penguin ecosystem sees explosive market activity
Within hours of its launch, PENGU generated $90 million worth of trading volume and surged more than 870 percent to a high of $0.06845. Its market capitalization has grown to more than $3 billion, making it one of the top 200 cryptocurrencies.
However, the token's debut was not without its hiccups. After hitting the ATH at $0.06845, Pengu's price has fallen 51% to $0.03232 at press time, reflecting the volatility often seen with new tokens.
A savvy trader took advantage of the price hike and pocketed an astounding $8.36 million profit in 20 minutes before cashing out 239.6 million PENGU for 23,742 SOL for 60,726 SOL.
One trader made an incredible 36,984$SOL($8.36M) profit by trading $PENGU in less than 20 minutes.
As soon as $PENGU launched, the trader spent 23,742$SOL($5.36M) to buy 239.6M$PENGU and later sold it for 60,726$SOL($13.72M).
Big profit!😱 pic.twitter.com/z5ZDKL3cfn
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) December 17, 2024
On the other hand, a trader trying to rig early trades lost $10,000 due to low liquidity, only getting 78 PENGU tokens worth $3. This crash highlights the risk of trading in less liquid pools.
Someone bought $PENGU @$14T mc and turned his $10k into $5 in seconds lmfao pic.twitter.com/R9X9tOu2fn
— bx1 (@bx1core) December 17, 2024
The airdrop affected the Pudgy Penguins NFT market. The set's floor price briefly rose to 34.1 ETH (approximately $136,000), cementing its position as the second most expensive NFT set after CryptopunkX. However, after-air trading resulted in lower prices, with some NFTs falling below $63,000.
Binance, OKX and Bybit list PENGU token
The PENGU token is now listed on major exchanges such as Binance, OKX and Bybit.
Binance has added PENGU/USDT perpetual contracts with leverage of up to 75x. These developments highlight the growing popularity and market potential of the token.
Looking ahead, PENGU plans to expand functionality through Ethereum and Abstract Chain Layer 2. A LayerZero bridge is also under construction, allowing Pudgy toy owners to claim tokens seamlessly.
As the ecosystem matures, the future of the PENGU token lies in its ability to sustain user engagement and navigate the ever-changing crypto landscape.
