Pudgy Penguins $PENGU Token on Solana

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Good Morning.

The market continues to stay relatively flat with various sectors pumping after one another. It’s unclear where BTC goes next, but the market will definitely react violently regardless of the direction of the move. Price discovery mode innit.

In Today's Email:

• What Matters: Pudgy Penguins $PENGU 🐧 

• Product: Ripple RLUSD Stablecoin 💵 

• Charts: BTC ETFs 1.1M Holdings 📈, VC Funding Below $700M 📉

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WHAT MATTERS

Pudgy Penguins to Launch $PENGU Token

State of play: Pudgy Penguins is set to launch its official token, $PENGU, on Solana by the end of the year.

• $PENGU has a total supply of 88.88B tokens.

• Pengu's tokenomics includes 25.9% allocated to the community, 24.12% for other communities and new members, and 17.8% for its team members.

• These team tokens will be subject to a one-year cliff and a three-year vesting period, ensuring gradual distribution.

• Additionally, the company retains 11.48% of the supply under the same conditions.

• Pudgy Penguins has expanded into retail partnerships with Walmart and Target and currently holds a market cap of $609M, with its NFT trade volume spiking recently.

What’s next: Jayhan88's estimates significant potential returns from the $PENGU token airdrop for the Pudgy Penguins community, depending on the market cap scenario: Bear ($1.5B), Base ($2B), or Bull ($3B).

• Expected returns range from $30,597 to $61,195 for Pudgy Penguins holders, $3,581 to $7,163 for Lil Pudgy holders, and $1,791 to $3,581 for other holders (e.g., Rog, SBT).

For builders and investors: Pudgy knows that timing in crypto is often the most important thing. Deciding to capitalize on the bull market and quickly launch its token is a smart move to help Pudgy’s war chest in the next bear market.

Take a peek at our referral reward at the bottom of this issue. Share this newsletter and receive our list of 500 crypto VC individuals 👇

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK

Ripple Aims for $RLUSD Stablecoin Launch

Ripple is pushing to launch its US dollar-pegged stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD), by year-end, despite potential delays due to the holiday season.

• Initially announced in April, RLUSD will be available on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum, with testing beginning in August.

• Ripple has partnered with exchanges such as Uphold and Bitstamp and secured market makers like B2C2 and Keyrock for liquidity.

• CTO David Schwartz stressed regulatory challenges, noting oversight by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

Other cool products:

• simNGMI, a social network for AI agents.

• BounceBit, a dual-token PoS blockchain.

• Blosent, a payment automation platform.

• Lendfinity, an open-source, DeFi protocol on Bitfinity.

• YieldBase, an automated yield farming platform on Avalanche.

CHARTS OF THE WEEK

US Bitcoin ETFs Surpass Satoshi's 1.1M BTC Holdings

State of play: US spot Bitcoin ETFs have surpassed the 1.1M BTC estimated to be held by Satoshi Nakamoto, collectively holding 1,105,923 BTC.

• The milestone was achieved after generating $33B in net inflows and benefiting from Bitcoin’s 130% price surge this year, pushing the ETFs' AUM above $100B.

• Leading the pack is BlackRock’s IBIT with 521,164 BTC, followed by Grayscale’s GBTC (214,217 BTC) and Fidelity’s FBTC (199,183 BTC).

• Satoshi’s estimated holdings, believed to have been mined in Bitcoin’s early days, remain unspent.

Our take: The surpassing of Satoshi’s holdings by US spot Bitcoin ETFs shows Bitcoin’s increasing institutional adoption, with over 1.1M BTC accumulated in less than a year.

VC New Funds Funding Falls Below $700M

State of play: Venture capital funding has significantly declined from its peak in 2021, with quarterly amounts raised dropping below $700M this quarter.

• Notable raises this year include IVP at $1.6B, Paradigm at $850M, and Uncorrelated Ventures at $315M, signaling fewer but larger funding rounds.

Our Take: The trend reflects LP appetite that seems to be shifting to liquid instead of private markets.

QUICK BITES

• FDIC urged banks to pause crypto activities.

• Coinbase responds to account restriction FUD.

• VCs express skepticism towards crypto-AI projects.

• Iran moves to regulatory crypto instead of imposing limits.

• David Sacks will look at the crypto choke point crackdown.

• Pudgy Penguins overtakes BAYC as 2nd largest NFT collection.

• US spot Bitcoin ETFs surpass Satoshi's estimated 1.1M BTC holdings.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

• a16z’s read on big ideas in tech for 2025.

• Cheeky Rolo’s read on the November 2024 web3 fundraising report.

• Mac Budkowski’s read on a better way to onboard the next billion users to ETH.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.