Pudgy Penguins Take Over Las Vegas Sphere With Holiday Animation
A flock of animated penguins lit up the Las Vegas Strip this Christmas as Pudgy Penguins projected its characters across the exterior of the city’s iconic Sphere.
The large-scale LED display, known as the Exosphere, showcased the Web3-born brand’s characters in vibrant detail, drawing the attention of thousands of tourists and fans alike.
How Did a Crypto Project Reach Mainstream Screens
Pudgy Penguins, launched in 2021 as a collection of 8,888 unique NFT penguins on Ethereum, quickly gained attention for its playful design and strong community.
After being acquired in April 2022 by entrepreneur Luca Netz for $2.5 million in Ether, the project expanded beyond digital art.
Netz, drawing on his consumer products experience, moved into physical toy production to sustain revenue as NFT sales declined.
Luca Netz is one of the biggest builders in the space.
What he’s building with Pudgy Penguins, Abstract, and everything around it is bigger than most people realize.
The vision, execution, and momentum are unmatched. If you leave now, you’re walking away right before it all… pic.twitter.com/CeGFNmQvnP
— Hoangry🐧✳️ (@hoangry) October 22, 2025
Netz explained in an August interview,
“Toys generate significant revenue, but the margins are thin. We’re selling millions of dollars’ worth of toys today, but it took time to scale into that business.”
This strategy has helped the brand grow, with Pudgy Penguins expected to reach $50 million in revenue by the end of 2025.
Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz Aims for IPO Within Two Years
Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins, says he’d be disappointed if the brand doesn't go public by 2027 and openly invites accountability if the goal isn't met. The crypto-native IP, now on track for a projected $50 million… pic.twitter.com/YtckrTOs3h
— CryptoNewsZ (@cryptonewsz_) August 25, 2025
Why The Sphere Campaign Matters
The animated display went live on Christmas Eve, running for a seven-day holiday campaign.
Unlike typical crypto marketing, the visuals focused on characters and merchandise rather than NFTs or token promotions.
Vedant Mangaldas, a Pudgy Penguins executive, framed the campaign clearly:
“This activation celebrates specifically our physical products… It has nothing to do with the crypto side of our business.”
The campaign reportedly cost between $500,000 and $600,000.
The Sphere, wrapped in high-resolution LED panels visible across the Strip, provided a platform that elevated the brand from blockchain-native artwork to mainstream consumer recognition.
Pudgy Penguins is now live on the Exosphere of @SphereVegas 🐧 pic.twitter.com/o4EZjU55gl
— Pudgy Penguins (@pudgypenguins) December 24, 2025
NFT Market Faces Headwinds While Select Brands Thrive
Despite the wider NFT market struggling in 2025, with first-quarter transaction volumes down 63% year on year to $1.5 billion and December market capitalisation falling to around $2.5 billion, Pudgy Penguins showed resilience.
By pivoting toward physical products, licensing, social media content, and short-form animation, the project decoupled from daily crypto price cycles and established itself as a recognizable entertainment IP.
Other areas of the NFT sector, such as real-world collectible-backed tokens, also saw growth.
Platforms linking authenticated trading cards to on-chain assets processed over 230,000 transactions and generated roughly $13.9 million in sales over the past 30 days.
Merry Christmas!!
Day 21 pulling @Courtyard_io Slabs
Hit the Holiday PSA 10 Pokemon and pulled a Roaring Moon!!
The art is so clean!! pic.twitter.com/fOPNfPaTnI
— LazyEth 🦍 (@0xLazy_eth) December 26, 2025
Courtyard CEO Nicolas le Jeune said,
“The cards you buy on Courtyard aren’t worth more because they’re NFTs. The value is the underlying asset — the NFT just gives you a better way to experience it.”
From NFTs to Mass-Market Brand Recognition
The Sphere campaign demonstrates how Pudgy Penguins has shifted from a Web3-native NFT project into a broader consumer brand.
The focus on character-driven storytelling and merchandise, rather than token promotion, allowed the project to reach a mainstream audience and comply with venue restrictions.
The impact extended to crypto markets as well.
PENGU, the project’s token often viewed as a meme coin, bounced off a low on December 24 following the Sphere appearance, despite muted trading activity across the sector during the holiday lull.
I'm very bullish on $PENGU pic.twitter.com/qKDIXYbooJ
— Aisar (@aisarcore) December 25, 2025
Social Media and Merch Drive Ongoing Engagement
Beyond large-scale campaigns, Pudgy Penguins maintains strong engagement online, with over 2 million Instagram followers and billions of views across platforms like GIPHY.
The holiday Sphere activation coincided with the launch of new merchandise, including a snow globe featuring the brand’s signature penguins, available through the project’s online store.
shop the new Pudgy Penguins Snow Globe using crypto
powered by MoonPay Commerce + @solanapay https://t.co/K1thk0KdQe pic.twitter.com/cUBEjWLE4X
— MoonPay Commerce (@MoonPayCommerce) December 24, 2025
By blending physical products, mainstream advertising, and strategic social media content, Pudgy Penguins continues to position itself as a recognizable entertainment brand that began in Web3, proving that crypto-born IP can cross into traditional consumer markets.