Crypto Trader Makes Over $8 Million in 20 Minutes from Pudgy Penguins’ PENGU Airdrop

A cryptocurrency trader has managed to make around $8.36 million with the recent airdrop of the native token of the popular non-fungible token (NFT) project Pudgy Penguins, all in less than 20 minutes.

According to on-chain data analysis service Lookonchain, the trader spent 23,742 SOL to buy 239.6 million PENGU tokens as soon as they were launched, meaning they bet $5.36 million on the newly launched cryptocurrency moving up.

The bet turned profitable nearly immediately, with the trader then offloading their PENGU holdings for 60,726 SOL, or around $13.72 million.

The PENGU token was airdropped to holders of Pudgy Penguins NFTs and saw an initial surge at launch from around $0.05 per token to a $0.07 high, before those who received the airdrop started selling en masse. The cryptocurrency has since seen a drop, and is now trading at $0.031 per token.

Nevertheless, PENGU’s total market capitalization is now hovering around $1.93 billion, making it one of the top 100 digital assets by the metric. The token, at launch, was listed on various major cryptocurrency trading platforms including Binance, Bybit, OKX, and Bitget.

A total of 23.5% of PENGU’s supply was distributed through an airdrop, while another 22% was allocated to the Solana and Ethereum communities. Furthermore, 12.3% of the supply will be utilized as liquidity on decentralized exchanges.

Ahead of the launch of PENGU, the floor price of Pudgy Penguin NFTs has experienced a significant increase. The lowest-priced NFT in the collection trading at 34.1 ETH (approximately $135,000) at one point. 

The price of the NFTs has since plunged by more than 52%, with the lowest-priced NFT in the collection now trading for 15.75 ETH ($62,400), seemingly as traders dump their NFTs to lock in gains from the price appreciation and the widely-anticipated airdrop.