Pudgy Penguins Community Rescue

2022

Date: April 2, 2022 · Place: Pudgy Penguins DAO, founder ouster vote, Luca Netz acquisition · Figures: Luca Netz, incoming CEO (acquires for 750 ETH, roughly $2.5M) · ColeThereum, original founder (ousted in community vote) · 8888 Penguin holders · Tags: Rescue, DAO, Turnaround, PFP 01. Founders Voted Out On January 6 2022 the Pudgy Penguins community votes to remove the original four founders, accusing them of mismanaging treasury and roadmap. The collection's floor price had crashed from 2.6 ETH to 0.4 ETH inside two months. The ouster is the first high-profile community-led founder removal in NFT history. Luca Netz, a 23-year-old e-commerce operator with no prior NFT credentials, acquires the project from the founders for 750 ETH (roughly $2.5 million) on April 2 2022. Crypto Twitter calls the deal 'the worst purchase ever' and 'buying the falling knife.' 02. Penguin Plushies at Walmart Netz pivots the project away from web3-native roadmaps toward physical IP. Pudgy Penguins plush toys ship to 2,000 Walmart stores in May 2023 with embedded QR codes that route to web3 onboarding. The plushies sell roughly 1 million units in the first 12 months. Floor price recovers to 17 ETH by December 2023. The rescue becomes the meme that proves NFT projects can survive founder failure and reach mainstream retail. It is the cleanest counter-narrative to 'NFTs are dead' in the post-FTX bear market. Sources • Luca Netz, acquisition announcement, Twitter, April 2 2022 • Andrew Thurman, 'Pudgy Penguins Founders Ousted,' CoinDesk, January 7 2022 • Olga Kharif, 'Pudgy Penguins Plushies Hit Walmart,' Bloomberg, May 30 2023