Following a busy year full of complications and success, Pudgy Penguins has continued to improve the power of their marketing abilities by partnering up with famous auction house Sotheby’s for a unique auction that includes Soul-Bound Tokens and charities to accompany the popular penguin NFTs.

Sotheby's partnership

Since the beginning of the NFT bull run in 2021, auction houses have played a pivotal role in web3 because of their ability to track and facilitate the exchange of high-valued items. Christie's, another popular auction house, was responsible for Beeple’s landmark sale of Everydays: The First 5000 when it sold for approximately $69 million.

A year and a half later, it seems that other auction houses are also beginning to include popular NFTs into their offerings as well to explore new markets and audiences in web3. However, unlike most web3 secondary markets like Opensea and Blur, Soethby’s is able to add new value to specific items from the Pudgy Penguin collection because of their interest in provenance. 

Sotheby’s, as written on their webpage, does not recognize every token within the collection as equal. To them, some tokens (specifically Penguin #4609) are more significant than others because of who owned them in the past, similar to traditional works of art and how they’re valued. 

So, it’s no surprise that Sotheby’s has handpicked certain tokens which they deem to be the most valuable including Penguin #4609 because it was originally owned by the collection founder Cole Thereum who left the project earlier this year. 

Soul-Bound Tokens

Value does not end there however. Sotheby’s is also including soul-bound tokens (which are a unique type of NFT that cannot be removed from a wallet) with the auctions to help provide even more concrete evidence on the blockchain that a buyer has officially purchased something from the Sotheby’s collection. 

This adds an even deeper layer of value because, not only does the NFT itself have a record of provenance on the blockchain, but it also allows the wallet to hold an official record from Sotheby’s about owning the token as well. 

Charities and community funds

Moreover, proceeds from the auctions will also be donated to the Cozy Horizon Fund and Oceanities. 

The Cozy Horizon Fund is a community fund created for Pudgy Penguin holders that will help support their community and provide value for holders going forward similar to a treasury.

Oceanties is a conservation effort for wildlife in Antarctica where most penguins are native to. This form of charity has become quite common in web3 as many popular collections use specific animals as their subject. The Bored Ape Yacht Club for example has supported similar wildlife work by donating a portion of their proceeds to the Jane Goodall Wildlife Foundation. 

Pudgy Penguins to date

Following a rough start to the year, Pudgy Penguins has steadily become a staple NFT collection in the world of web3. While they may not command the strongest floor price, they have created massive waves in the use cases for NFTs following their marketing and partnerships with well-established companies such as Kelloggs.