NFT Market Explodes: Ethereum’s CryptoPunks & Pudgy Penguins Lead Charge Toward $7B Cap

The NFT market isn't just buzzing—it's roaring. Ethereum-based blue-chips like CryptoPunks and Pudgy Penguins are flexing their dominance as the sector flirts with a $7 billion valuation.

Who needs fundamentals when you've got JPEGs with provenance? The usual suspects—CryptoPunks with their pixelated swagger and Pudgy Penguins' icy-cool branding—are vacuuming up liquidity while lesser projects scramble for scraps.

Meanwhile, traditional finance bros are still trying to explain how a cartoon ape justifies its price tag. Spoiler: it doesn't. But in a world where 'utility' is an afterthought, the market's voting with its ETH wallet.

NFT market space heats up

CoinGecko data shows a surge of over 2% in NFT market capitalization over the last 24 hours, reaching $6.93 billion, indicating a renewed interest from investors. However, the trading volume is down 36% during the same period, at $15.54 million, indicating a short-term cooldown. 

Dominating the space, Ethereum-based NFTs such as CryptoPunks and Pudgy Penguins have a market capitalization of $2.05 billion and $520 million, respectively. It is worth noting that these NFT collections account for 29% and 8% of the total market valuation, respectively. 

The floor price of CryptoPunks has crossed 50 ETH, worth over $200,000, with a 38% increase in the last month, reflecting the increased hype.

NFT market data. Source: CoinGecko

The Ethereum-based NFTs rally on the back of a renewed bullish run in ETH prices. The co-founder of BitMEX, Arthur Hayes, estimates that NFTs, especially CryptoPunks, will outperform the Ethereum cycle in terms of US Dollar gains, as he stated in a post on a social network last week. Arthur backs the estimate on the social status market, suggesting the capital in decentralized arts could outpace the fundamentally driven Ethereum. 

Evan Kuhn, president of DeLorean Labs, shared the Optimism surrounding the potential utility of NFT collections such as CryptoPunks and Pudgy Penguins that could overshadow the speculative appeal to FXStreet last week.

“NFTs are now being used to manage access, automate rules, and assign roles within on-chain ecosystems. For example, some marketplaces are using NFTs as credentials. They can prove eligibility for transactions, enforce compliance checks, or grant specific permissions, all directly through smart contracts. That is a major step forward from the days of profile pictures tied to meme coins.”

Evan further highlighted the higher level of maturity in the NFT space with the example of Pudgy Penguins, "bridging digital identity with physical retail, while also layering in token-based engagement."