Pudgy Penguins: Someone made $600K flipping a penguin NFT... because it faced the other way

Pudgy Penguins: Someone made $600K flipping a penguin NFT… because it faced the other way

August 14, 2021

Penguins might be flightless birds – but their NFTs are taking off.

Even as crypto prices had a modest pullback today, the non-fungible token craze shows no signs of stopping.

The Pudgy Penguin project got a pump overnight courtesy of this flattering story in the New York Times following a purchase earlier in the week by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian (also known as Serena Williams’ husband).

so it begins pic.twitter.com/KH34H7z13c

— AlexisOhanian 7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ (@alexisohanian) August 10, 2021

The collection of 8,888 portly penguins “sold out” in just 19 minutes on July 23 sight unseen, with users paying just 0.03 Eth (less than A$100) to mint one.

This morning the penguins were selling for a minimum of 1.85 Eth (A$7,773) on Opensea.

This grey penguin — plain-looking compared to some others, but the only left-facing penguin in the collection — has been the top-selling penguin, changing hands on Monday for 150 Eth (A$631,500, or US$463,500).

Congrats to @FlipDragon801 who just flipped his @pudgy_penguins NFT for 150 ETH (Mint was 0.03). My guy truly deserves it. NFTs are out here changing lives!https://t.co/i4xqtFbhko

— Value-Trader (@AbizMind) August 10, 2021

The buyer, “Penguin Lover,” has re-listed the penguin for 1,000 Ether (A$4.2 million/US$3 million). The same account owns other 27 Pudgy Penguins they bought for between 0.5 and 14.8 Ether (US$1,544 to US$43,000). The same user may tweet under the handle @pudgyluver.

Time to go shopping @pudgy_penguins

— Lil Pudge (@PudgyLuver) August 9, 2021

(As the NYT story noted, the biggest perk of owning a penguin “is getting to change your Twitter profile photo to your NFT, marking yourself as part of the in crowd”).

Dear reader, Penguin Lover may be a lot more clever than you are assuming. The same account managed to flip this “ghost” penguin (a Pudgy Penguin wearing a sheet) for a tidy profit this week, buying it Sunday for 28 Ether (US$86,000) and selling it Tuesday for 100 Ether (US$308,000).

Other top-selling penguins include this penguin with a hatched penguin chick on its head, which sold yesterday for 55 Ether (US$170,000) and a penguin in a shark suit that changed hands on Tuesday for 69 Ether (US$213,000).

Overall the penguins have been the top-selling NFT collection in the past 24 hours, with 1,265 trades for a total of US$9.7 million, according to NFT-Stats.

New by me: I Joined a Penguin NFT Club Because Apparently That’s What We Do Now https://t.co/japzBSZwvD

— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) August 12, 2021

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