'Web3 Mickey Mouse' Pudgy Penguins Draw Successive Institutional Interest

Pudgy Penguins is drawing attention from traditional finance and is strengthening its role as a bridge between the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) industry and Wall Street. Following a strategic collaboration with Sharps Technology, it was officially mentioned in the earnings materials of Bullish, listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), attracting institutional interest.

Sharps Technology recently announced, "We will cooperate with Pudgy Penguins in the process of expanding the Solana (SOL) treasury strategy." Sharps is a prominent treasury manager holding more than 200 million SOL, and through this partnership plans to combine Pudgy Penguins' global IP with its asset management capabilities. Luca Netz, Pudgy Penguins' CEO, said, "The cooperation with Sharps Technology will accelerate Pudgy Penguins' brand value."

Pudgy Penguins was subsequently introduced as a key partnership example in Bullish's Q2 earnings materials and conference call. Bullish cited Pudgy Penguins as a core partner while mentioning market infrastructure and information service subscription products; liquidity support with USDC, USDT, and SOL; a CoinDesk and Pudgy Penguins co-branded café (Seongsu, Seoul); and ecosystem expansion strategies.

Pudgy Penguins currently sells more than 2 million toys through Amazon and others, and has collaborated with Walmart, NASCAR, and Lotte, earning the nickname 'the Mickey Mouse of Web3.' Recently, Canary submitted a PENGU spot ETF filing, expanding its position as a financial product for institutions. The market capitalization of its non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and token collection is estimated at about $3.5 billion.

James Jang, Sharps' strategic advisor, said, "Pudgy Penguins has established itself as a cultural phenomenon beyond Web3," adding, "This collaboration will be a new opportunity to encompass both the broader public and institutions at the same time."

As evidence of this interest, the price of the Pudgy Penguins token 'PENGU' rose about 28% over the past three weeks, climbing from $0.027 to $0.039. As of the 18th (local time), on the Binance USDT market, PENGU was trading in the $0.037 range, down 1.14% from the previous day.