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gm everyone,
Welcome to Onchain Pulse, Nansen’s bi-weekly newsletter that brings stories from the chain to your inbox. Each issue will contain an onchain perspective of interesting events, tokens, NFTs, wallets, entities, transactions, and more, to help you surface the signal.
This week, we’re looking into everyone’s favorite JPEGs - Pudgy Penguins. Let’s get to it!
Thriving through the winter
“I am my penguin and my penguin is me" was a rallying cry for the history books.
In hindsight, it was inevitable that a huddle of penguins would be best equipped to thrive through winter. From a low of 0.8 ETH, Pudgy Penguins have soared to a high of 22 ETH, marking an increase of over 26x from their lowest point. Impressively, they briefly surpassed the Bored Ape Yacht Club in floor price on February 17, 2024. Moreover, we're observing trading volumes reaching new heights, sustaining levels significantly higher than those seen during the previous bull run.
Let’s delve into the icy waters of Pudgy Penguins, analyzing their onchain activity and key data points to shine a light on what the holders are doing.
A look into the huddle
Recent transactions
Before diving deep into the details, let's start with a high-level overview of recent transactions. From January 27 to February 13, we observed a significant number of Smart Money purchases.
A single wallet was responsible for the majority of these transactions. This address consistently acquires Pudgies and other NFT collections, then deposits them into Blend to borrow ETH, which is then used to purchase more NFTs. I won’t delve into further details here, as that topic alone could fill an entire issue, but I encourage you to analyze the wallet on your own!
Is the huddle HODL-ing?
Approximately 48% of all Pudgies have been held for over a year. While similar holding periods are observed across other major collections like BAYC, Azuki, and CloneX, Pudgies stand out as the only collection where most holders have significant unrealized gains.
Almost 52% of Pudgies are held in wallets that have not sold a single Pudgy, in contrast to 44% for BAYC, 40% for Doodles, 37% for Azuki, and 46% for CloneX. This difference is even more pronounced when considering that many holders are sitting on sizable profits.
This is a good indication that Pudgy holders are still optimistic about the future of the collection and anticipate further upside.
Holders activity
Over the past 30 days, we've observed existing holders of Pudgy Penguins acquiring additional Pudgies and Lil Pudgys. There are 84 more holders purchasing Pudgy Penguins than those selling, and 2 more for Lil Pudgys. Despite the higher volumes of sales, the greater number of holders buying remains a notable indicator.
Interestingly, we’re seeing Pudgy holders taking a keen interest in ERC404 collections.
Listing data
As floor prices have increased, we've observed a downward trend in the number of NFTs listed for sale. This may be the chart that best captures the current sentiment. Pudgy Penguins have established themselves as highly valuable, long-term assets among existing holders and they aren’t selling until much higher.
Just the tip of the iceberg
Turning dreams into reality aptly summarizes the achievements of the Pudgy Penguins team over the past two years. They have flawlessly executed their vision, capturing mainstream attention with each cute GIF and plushie. Despite the recent run-up in prices, existing holders are not only retaining but also increasing their holdings, with many choosing to delist their Pudgies. With DYM setting a precedent by airdropping tokens to NFT holders, the potential heights the penguins could reach remain a tantalizing question. While future performance is unpredictable, one thing is clear: the Huddle has never been stronger, and I wouldn’t be betting against them.
That’s all for this week – as always, feel free to reach out with comments or questions at martin.lee@nansen.ai.
