PENGU’s 385% Surge Fires Pudgy Penguins Into Second-Largest NFT Ranking

The Pudgy Penguins collection has surpassed the iconic Bored Ape Yacht Club in market capitalization, climbing to the number two spot globally. The move is being fueled by a massive 385% rally in the ecosystem’s native PENGU token over the past five weeks.

from DappRadar, the NFT aggregation platform, shows that the Pudgy Penguins’ market cap surged to $360 million. It has surpassed the Bored Ape Yacht Club category, which currently stands in third position with a $333 million market capitalization.

According to TradingView’s data, PENGU’s latest rally started in the final week of June, when the NFT token bounced off support at $0.007737. The cryptocurrency produced five consecutive bullish weekly candles, creating a record in the duration of a sustained bull run since its existence.

PENGU, which launched in December 2024, serves as a utility governance token within the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem. For Pudgy Penguins community members, PENGU is the underlying crypto that allows them to participate in NFT-related activities within their community. They also use the crypto asset for community governance.

In the meantime, it is worth noting that PENGU’s latest price surge suggests a resurgence in the NFT sector of the cryptocurrency industry. NFTs have suffered a setback in awareness since the post-COVID-19 era, when the digital asset class experienced massive hype amid an unprecedented adoption. NFTs fueled the metaverse surge during the worldwide movement restrictions that forced many people to operate remotely.

The NFT category’s resurgence is universal, covering several projects within the sector. CryptoPunks maintains its leadership position with a $612 million market capitalization at the time of writing, after a 4,600% surge in its trading volume in the past 24 hours. The average price of a CryptoPunk NFT at the time of writing was $181,480, significantly higher than Pudgy Penguins NFTs, which traded at $57,520 during the same period.