Messari: Investment thesis for PENGU remains unchanged

Author: Evan Zakhary, Messari protocol analyst; Compiler: 0xjs@金财经

On December 17, 2024, Web 3 giant and popular Ethereum-based NFT collectible Pudgy Penguins launched the project’s native token PENGU on Solana. The token is distributed via airdrop, with initial centralized exchange listings provided by Binance, OKX, and Bybit. Many OG Ethereum and Solana users showed strong enthusiasm for the PENGU airdrop, which not only rewards those with direct exposure to the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem, but also long-term supporters in the broader NFT and crypto community. On launch day, the token’s market capitalization peaked at $3.5 billion, amassing $90 million worth of trading volume within the first hour, catalyzing a record single day for Solana network trading volume.

Source: Artemis, CoinDesk

Fast forward to December 21, 2024. Just four days later, has the storyline changed? Despite the initial popularity on launch day, there was some negative press in the media over the following days:

• CoinTelegraph highlighted that the market value of PENGU fell by 50.00% after its launch, and the floor price of Pudgy Penguins fell by 55.00% (from 36 ETH to 16 ETH).

• CryptoBriefing.com noted that PENGU’s market capitalization fell by 50.00% amid “tremendous selling pressure.”

• CryptoNews.com mentioned that PENGU’s market capitalization dropped by 55.00%, noting that memecoins fell “across the board.”

One unlucky trader even went viral for turning a $10,000 PENGU investment into $3.00 within minutes of the coin's launch. The user's transaction was completed with a market capitalization of $14.00 trillion, a figure that would make the price of PENGU approximately 7.00 times higher than the current price of Bitcoin. Commercially Reasonable Search also noted that as of December 21, 2024, no public company was worth $10.00 trillion or more. How unfortunate.

Negative media coverage has cast a pall over the community-focused vision of Pudgy Penguins, a Web3 brand with a proven track record in Web2 promotion.

While recent negative price action has dominated the discussion, the enduring strength of Pudgy Penguins' Web 3 community and its ability to connect with a wider audience remains compelling. This narrative shift may stem more from short-term volatility than fundamental issues.

I personally believe that the investment thesis for Pudgy Penguins remains unchanged .