The NFT market is showing real signs of recovery.
After months of sideways consolidation, we finally see signs of warming: floor prices are rising, market value is rebounding, and some familiar names are overtaking old blue-chip NFTs, from Pudgy Penguins surpassing BAYC to Art Blocks making an unexpected return. The market atmosphere is changing.
This article will analyze the latest data, focusing on the best-performing categories and series, and discussing whether this is merely a temporary fluctuation or the beginning of a larger trend.
Key points:
In July, the NFT market value surged by 94%, reaching nearly $7 billion, marking the highest level since early 2025.
Weekly trading volume soared by 51%, reaching $136 million, making July one of the best-performing months since February.
The average NFT price increased by 40% within 7 days, reaching $146, but the transaction volume only grew by 7%, clearly indicating that traders are shifting towards higher value assets.
Pudgy Penguins' market value has surpassed that of BAYC, with the floor price increasing by 539% since its launch, and it has risen by 7% just this week.
The floor price of CryptoPunks increased by 53%, marking a return of attention to blue-chip stocks and the resilient culture of Web3.
Driven by new ownership and airdrop hype, Moonbirds' trading volume skyrocketed by 600%, but the floor price has still fallen by 64% since its launch.
1. NFT Market Overview.
The NFT market is showing strong signs of recovery. Since the beginning of this month, the market value has increased by 94%, reaching $6.6 billion, marking the highest level since early 2025.
Weekly trading volume jumped 51%, reaching $136 million, potentially making July one of the best-performing months since February.
Sales increased by 7% month-on-month, but overall sales this month will not exceed June's. Last month, sales surpassed 5 million, while July has just crossed the 3 million mark. What is the reason? ETH is rising, and NFTs are also on the rise. In just 7 days, the average price of NFTs surged by 40%, reaching $146.
Decreasing trading volume, rising prices, the market is changing, and the blue-chip wave is returning.
2. Popular NFT Categories - Weekly Performance.
With the clear return of the blue-chip wave, this article focuses on the best-performing NFT categories from the past week. Unsurprisingly, PFP leads the way, accounting for 37% of total trading volume, followed by RWA NFTs at 11%, indicating that the tokenization narrative still has vitality.
However, not all categories have joined the upward trend. NFTs in the sports, music, and fashion sectors have not seen a surge, although gaming NFTs performed steadily in the second quarter, their popularity has slightly cooled, and this week's sales have noticeably declined.
Nevertheless, the dominant position of PFP aligns with current market sentiment. Whenever the NFT market heats up, PFP always takes the lead, just like in previous bull market cycles, some things won't change easily.
3. Noteworthy NFT Series This Week.
This week's market focus is on major actions from top NFTs, the return of enthusiasm, and a series of floor price activities.
Pudgy Penguins: A new heavyweight collectible.
Pudgy Penguins' market value has officially surpassed that of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, now only second to CryptoPunks. Since its launch, the floor price has increased by 539%, and it has risen another 7% in the past week.
How did Pudgy Penguins achieve this? It's simple: they launched during the bear market, from IRL benefits to connecting Web2 and Web3, and now expanding into Asia with plush toys. The timing of the brand's emergence is just right, especially amid the current frenzy over collectibles.
CryptoPunks: Back in the spotlight.
The punk era has never truly ended, but it seems to have regained its luster. Just this week, floor prices rose by 53%, and the series remains one of the most actively traded collectibles.
Don't forget, this was a free mint back in 2017. Whenever the market shows new vitality, the punk series will return to the spotlight. They remain the gold standard of influence in Web3. For some, owning a punk collectible isn't just about making money - it's a symbol of identity, pure and simple, and now, this status is becoming increasingly popular.
Moonbirds: A surprising rebound.
Moonbirds is back. To be honest, it feels unexpected. After fading from blue-chip status, Moonbirds has staged a powerful rebound: floor prices increased by 60%, trading volume surged by 600%.
What caused this? Shortly after being acquired by Orange Cap Games in May, the company announced a partnership with Towns on July 19, allowing holders to access private on-chain spaces and gain points before the airdrop.
It is worth mentioning that since its launch, the dollar value of Moonbirds has still fallen by 64%, indicating that there is still a long way to go, but its momentum is strengthening.
Art Blocks: Quietly returning.
If there is anything that can unleash the energy of a bull market, it would be the return of Art Blocks. This week, it has ranked among the highest trading volume collectibles, with an average price soaring by 156%.
On July 10, the platform announced a major overhaul, launching collector profiles, wallet aggregation, an achievement system, and providing a better user experience for regular collectors.
The market has also noticed this, with top projects like Fidenza rekindling interest, feeling like art is starting to return to the NFT discussion.
PFP and art are accelerating their development. If historical experience can prove this, this combination will open the next round of the NFT bull market. It is still too early to conclude, but signals are emerging, and we look forward to next week's trends.
4. Summary
The past week has glimpsed a possible revival of NFTs: floor prices rising, PFPs regaining dominance, and art quietly making a strong comeback.
Pudgy Penguins surpasses BAYC, CryptoPunks heats up again, and Moonbirds takes flight. All these suggest one thing: the market is shifting, and attention is refocusing on NFTs.
After Moonbirds changed ownership, it staged a strong rebound. Can it replicate the successful path of Pudgy Penguins?
In recent days, the small images have reignited interest, and the NFT market has welcomed a long-awaited bullish trend. The old blue-chip NFT Moonbirds, which had been lying low, has rebounded strongly after completing a new round of ownership changes. Behind this is the recovery of the overall sentiment in the crypto market and the assistance of new narratives and community rebuilding.
The floor price of Moonbirds rebounded significantly, with new owner OCG being a key driver of the recovery.
Recently, the NFT market has heated up, and the once-quiet old project Moonbirds has re-entered the public eye.
NFT Price Floor data shows that as of July 22, the floor price of Moonbirds reached 1.55 ETH, setting a new high since December 2023. Although Moonbirds is still in a state of underperformance, its trading activity is quickly rebounding, ranking fifth in transaction volume among all NFTs in the past week, becoming one of the most关注ed IPs in the market.
The recent 'rebirth' of Moonbirds is closely tied to a key turning point: the change of IP ownership. On May 31 of this year, the blockchain game development studio Orange Cap Games (OCG) announced its acquisition of Moonbirds, Mythics, and Oddities from Yuga Labs, with plans to incorporate them into its Web3 gaming ecosystem.
Since OCG took over, Moonbirds' transaction volume has surged sharply, with the floor price skyrocketing by over 437.9%. During the Yuga Labs acquisition, it had almost stagnated, with the floor price hovering around 0.3 ETH for a long time and trading volume falling to a mere fraction of early peaks.
Regarding the reasons for the acquisition, OCG CEO Spencer revealed in an NFT NOW interview that, in addition to knowing Yuga Labs co-founder Garga for a long time, he believes that Moonbirds is an IP with a story. Despite its ups and downs, it still possesses cultural value and community foundation potential. Although the project's history is complex, the remaining users represent genuine cohesion, and the high-quality artistic resources and brand assets that Moonbirds has yet to release provide a solid foundation for the reboot.
After taking over Moonbirds, Spencer became the project leader and quickly clarified a new strategy, focusing on reactivating the community, expanding the platform, and future product and IP development.
Spencer stated that Moonbirds' primary goal is to reactivate the community. Although the community was very active in the past, its heat significantly declined during the Yuga acquisition period, with some members choosing to fade out or fall silent. Reuniting the community is the foundation of all plans, as without support from internal stakeholders, any ecological expansion is impossible.
While rebuilding the community, Moonbirds is also advancing its platform expansion plans, but the overall pace is significantly different from the previous peak periods. They have officially launched a Telegram announcement channel and are releasing daily crypto briefings through their official website, continuously updating community users with industry dynamics and project updates, and planning to expand to broader social platforms like Instagram, Giphy, TikTok, and YouTube to break free from excessive reliance on X, achieving multi-dimensional exposure for the brand and IP reach.
At the same time, Spencer revealed that the team is also internally developing new products, expecting to launch collectible items in the coming months. Although it is not yet confirmed whether the main format will be a trading card game (TCG), the hope is to showcase the potential of the Moonbirds ecosystem through these products.
Additionally, Spencer emphasized the open IP route of Moonbirds, welcoming other developers or publishers to use Moonbirds IP, provided they adhere to strict quality standards. This means that Moonbirds will not be limited to content developed solely by OCG, but will become an ecological platform for external construction.
From an actual delivery perspective, the transformation of Moonbirds has already shown phased results. According to a post by Spencer, in the 51 days since OCG took over, Moonbirds has topped the Ethereum NFT trading volume chart for 5 consecutive days, while also receiving airdrops from the social application Towns and free Pokémon cards.
OpenSea's official Twitter has changed to a Moonbirds avatar, and the established Telegram announcement channel has gained over 25,000 members. $1.4 million has been invested in the Moonbirds Telegram sticker lottery, completing a $3.5 million financing led by 1kx, hiring new team members, and is about to make an official announcement. He also revealed that Moonbirds has finalized three collaborations (2 large, 1 medium).
What is the successful path to replicating the Pudgy Penguins? Attention and cash flow are the survival philosophy of NFTs.
After Moonbirds was acquired by OCG, community expectations soared significantly, mainly due to the capital resources and business execution capabilities of this studio.
OCG is a game and experience design studio dedicated to bringing IP into reality. The helm is held by Spencer, an early blue-chip player in NFTs, who gained hundredfold returns through projects like BAYC and Cool Cats. Spencer is also the founder of NFT venture capital Spencer Ventures, and he successfully acquired over a hundred Pudgy Penguins NFTs during the 2023 Three Arrows Capital bankruptcy auction, laying a solid foundation for OCG's deep cooperation with Pudgy Penguins.
In September 2024, OCG announced that it secured $2 million in angel funding, with investors including Pudgy Penguins' parent company Igloo, Web3 consulting firm Pacific Meta, Kyber Network founder Loi Luu, NFT whale dingaling, and others.
Subsequently, OCG launched a new collectible card game Vibes featuring Pudgy Penguins IP, bringing over 200 licensed Pudgy Penguin images into online and offline TCG games, with over 4 million cards sold, generating more than $1.5 million in revenue just from physical sales. This showcases OCG's strength in successfully transforming NFTs from digital collectibles into tangible, experienceable IP.
As collaborations deepen, the interaction between OCG and Pudgy Penguins has become increasingly close, including Spencer appearing together with Pudgy Penguins at the NASDAQ opening bell ceremony this year.
Shortly after announcing the acquisition of Moonbirds, OCG again announced in June that it had secured $3.5 million in seed funding, with investors including 1kx, Yuga Labs, and IVC. Among them, 1kx was also a key early supporter of Pudgy Penguins, and this investment is seen by the community as a signal of ecological synergy.
For this reason, from strategic models, capital injection to ecological construction, Moonbirds' current development path is also perceived by the outside world as replicating the successful model of Pudgy Penguins.
Although it remains uncertain whether Moonbirds can return to its former peak, Spencer believes that the first rule of the crypto world is to survive. Many NFT projects fail due to a lack of funds to sustain basic operations, and only by maintaining stable cash flow and profit margins can a project's sustainability be ensured.
OCG ensures steady revenue growth through continuous brand events and product releases. Moreover, NFT projects should pursue both attention and cash flow; if they only chase one, they will ultimately end up empty-handed. An ideal product can not only shape brand influence but also achieve considerable revenue.
Pudgy Penguins trending on Twitter: From NFT project to multi-dimensional Web3 ecological IP.
Pudgy Penguins triggers a Twitter avatar change craze.
Recently, Pudgy Penguins has sparked a wave of avatar changes in the crypto circle, with industry institutions such as Coinbase, Binance.US, OpenSea, VanEck, OKX, and BitMart gradually changing their official Twitter avatars to Pudgy Penguins derivative images.
Among them, the endorsement of traditional financial giant VanEck is particularly crucial. This asset management company, with a history of 70 years, changed its Twitter avatar to a Pudgy Penguin as early as 2024 and rang the bell on NASDAQ with physical dolls on June 23, bringing Web3 IP into the mainstream financial hall.
The recent heat has also significantly driven the price performance of Pudgy Penguins-related assets. As of July 17, Pudgy Penguins' ecological token PENGU has skyrocketed over 216% in the past month, with its market value once exceeding $2.8 billion, and Pudgy Penguins NFT transaction volume has increased to $13.726 million, a 111% increase compared to last month.
The ecological panorama of Pudgy Penguins.
Since the NFT bear market began in 2022, Pudgy Penguins has not been swallowed by market sentiment. Instead, relying on its unique cute penguin image, it actively engaged in IP licensing and commercial landing, narrating a story about brand building and cultural operation.
Today, Pudgy Penguins has grown into the core brand of a diverse ecosystem. Within its ecosystem, it includes not only the Ethereum Layer 2 network Abstract built on ZK architecture but also integrates gaming applications, MEME, NFT lottery platforms, offline toys, and consumer goods across various scenarios.
According to official data, as of July, Pudgy Penguins toy sales exceeded $10 million, the number of users in the gaming segment reached 60,000, and Abstract's total active users are around 2.5 million. This series of data indicates that Pudgy Penguins is transforming into a true Web3 super IP with user scale effects, product commercialization capabilities, and on-chain infrastructure capabilities.
1. Physical ecology.
In terms of physical products, Pudgy Penguins' Pudgy Toys series is undoubtedly the most successful commercial landing case. Since its first release in May 2023, Pudgy Toys quickly climbed to Amazon's bestsellers list, with sales exceeding $10 million, and successfully entered over 10,000 Walmart stores across the U.S.
Rich category designs of plush toys, dolls, igloos, and more, combined with the revenue-sharing mechanism between Pudgy NFTs and physical products, allow Pudgy holders to earn passive income from sales, providing a commercial path reference for the entire NFT industry.
2. Gaming Segment.
The gaming segment is also a key direction for Pudgy Penguins. In May of this year, the 1V1 turn-based battle game Pengu Clash launched in the TON ecosystem, attracting over 60,000 players in its first week.
Additionally, the multiplayer survival game Pudgy Party, set to launch in summer 2025, has attracted significant user attention, with its official Twitter follower count nearing 100,000. By continuously introducing lightweight game content that aligns with users' social habits and entertainment needs, Pudgy Penguins is steadily expanding the reach of its IP and effectively attracting more users into its ecosystem.
3. Abstract Ecosystem.
Abstract is the Ethereum Layer 2 powered by ZK-rollup technology launched by Igloo Inc., the parent company of Pudgy Penguins, in collaboration with Cube Labs. It employs a wallet solution that does not require mnemonic phrases and a user-centered design philosophy, aiming to lower user thresholds and expand the adoption of consumer-grade application scenarios.
As of July 18, Abstract network TVL is 42.6M (up 533% year-on-year), with active users ranging from 50K to 200K. The network supports a diverse ecology including Pudgy Penguins-related games, NFT applications, and more. Some popular projects in the ecosystem include:
Abster: Abster is the official mascot MEME of Abstract. As of July 17, Abster's market value has risen to 37.6M, making it the highest market value MEME coin in the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem.
Polly: Polly is the official token of the lottery project PollyPrize. Users can participate in the platform's lottery activities by purchasing Polly tokens, with a ticket priced at $1 or 50 Polly points, with prizes being currently popular NFTs like Goblintown, Moonbirds, etc.
Future development potential.
In the short term, there are three noteworthy trends in the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem. First, the crypto asset management firm Canary Capital officially submitted an application to the SEC in March this year, proposing to launch a spot ETF product based on PENGU.
If this ETF is eventually approved, it will become the world's first ETF product based on the native assets of NFT projects. This is not only milestone-worthy but will also bring unprecedented institutional recognition to PENGU, achieving asset anchoring and compliant circulation in the traditional financial system, significantly enhancing Pudgy Penguins' liquidity, valuation basis, and institutional investability.
Moreover, the infrastructure Abstract is also accelerating its improvement. Pudgy Penguins' CEO Luca Netz publicly stated during a live broadcast that Abstract is expected to launch its TGE by the end of this year.
Abstract serves as the core infrastructure supporting diverse businesses such as Pudgy Penguins games, NFT interactions, and social applications. Once its token mechanism is implemented, it will provide stronger incentives and collaboration expectations for ecosystem participants, further boosting the popularity of native projects like PENGU, Abster, and PollyPrize.
Finally, the multiplayer survival game Pudgy Party is expected to launch this summer. It has already accumulated significant attention in the community, and as the game's official launch approaches, MEME characters like Abster are expected to achieve content linkage and gameplay integration within the game, further enhancing brand stickiness and increasing ecological enthusiasm.
The current Pudgy Penguins has far surpassed the scope of traditional NFT projects. It has developed into a complex Web3 brand encompassing IP, physical products, gaming, and infrastructure.
Starting from its initial avatar IP, it has expanded into offline consumer products, light social games, ZK Layer 2 infrastructure, and MEME tokens and lottery platforms, gradually building a complex ecological closed loop that spans both virtual and real worlds, across multiple chains and scenarios. This is also the main reason why Pudgy Penguins has maintained market activity despite the ongoing slump in the NFT market.
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