Penguins Wanna Fly High

Ethereum is one step closer to its long-awaited Eth2 update. The world’s largest blockchain network launched its first mainnet shadow fork today, as developers continue to convert the backing network to proof-of-stake consensus.

You may say that the shadow fork launch was a rehearsal for what’s called “The Merge,” which aims to shift the Ethereum blockchain network from a proof-of-work (PoW) model to a proof-of-stake (PoS) model. The Merge is reportedly expected to take place this quarter. You may learn more about The Merge in our previous newsletter here. 

Developers began testing the upgrade today, reporting that it went smoothly, although it did encounter some minor issues.

Parithosh Jayanthi, an Ethereum Foundation developer, tweeted: “The shadow fork is a way to “stress test our assumptions around syncing and state growth.” 

He continued by saying that it will also provide a way to test whether or not our assumptions are true on existing testnets and/or mainnets. 

Ethereum has been working on changing its consensus mechanism for years. Currently, it relies on proof-of-work, in which crypto miners must solve complex puzzles to validate transactions. The environmental impact of this process is often criticized because it requires a great amount of computational power. 

By switching to a proof-of-stake model, users could validate transactions according to how many coins they contribute or stake in the network. That means by staking more coins, users will have a higher chance of being chosen to validate transactions on the network and earning rewards. As a result of this shift, Ethereum’s crypto mining would become obsolete, which would significantly reduce its environmental impact.

This upgrade will ease the pain points associated with Ethereum, such as transaction fees and speed. It’s important for the crypto world as Ethereum is the biggest blockchain network, supporting hundreds of tokens, DeFi apps, and NFTs.

Today, Ether ($ETH.X), the native token of the network, hovered around $3,000, down 9%. 

It’s a tough time for the crypto market right now, and there’s no quick fix. However, there are some amazing tokens rallying high due to their use cases and recent developments. Have a look:

1. STEPN: STEPN ($GMT) is a move-to-earn cryptocurrency social-fi application based on the Solana network. Move-to-earn is a new concept, but it shares the elements of the play-to-earn model. In play-to-earn models, users receive rewards for playing a game, while move-to-earn projects reward users for maintaining healthier lifestyles. The platform describes itself as a “web3 lifestyle application” that rewards users for exercising regularly by walking, jogging, or running. 

The cool nature of the app has drawn support from users around the world, and, as a result, its governance token Green Metaverse Token ($GMT), has been surging over the past few weeks. 

$GMT has grown 2,478% since its launch last month. Currently, the token is trading at $2.58, with an 11% gain in the past 24 hours. The token can be traded on platforms such as Binance and KuCoin. 

2. Toncoin: The TON Foundation, founded by Telegram-based blockchain project The Open Network (TON), has chosen the TONcoin Fund to serve as its official ecosystem fund. TONcoin announced today the launch of an ecosystem fund to support TON-based projects. A total of $250 million was raised with the help of industry leaders, such as Huobi and Kucoin. 

In addition, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the Congo announced their plans to adopt the TON blockchain during the launch of the TONcoin Fund.

In response to the announcement, investors’ spirits were boosted, which caused the native token, $TON, to increase in value to $1.93. The token was among the few cryptocurrencies which ended the day in the green. 

3. Safe: Gnosis Safe, an Ethereum-based platform known for providing fund management services, recently submitted a proposal to establish the safeDAO. Along with that, it launched its native token, $SAFE, which attracted many investors today. There was a buzz on Twitter about where investors could find the token airdrop. The details about the latest developments can be found here.

Currently, the token is trading for $46, up over 10% in the last 24 hours and over 75% in the past week.

The Pudgy Penguins ($PUDGYPENGS.NFT) project is now under new leadership after closing its successful 750 ETH ($2.5 million) sale. A group led by Pudgy Penguins holder and Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Luca Netz will helm the new leadership by purchasing the whole project, as well as the royalty rights from its four co-founders. By controlling the project, the buyers’ group will be able to launch a token and send airdrops to other NFT holders, among other rights.

The new sale might breathe some life into Pudgy Penguins NFT, whose story is full of drama and tragedy. It made headlines last summer due to its unique collection of 8,888 chubby Antarctic creatures with different types of crowns, hats, and bow ties. Soon the project became one of the most successful NFT collections, raking in over 45,400 ETH in sales on OpenSea, which is approximately equal to about $136 million at today’s $ETH.X prices. 

However, it was not a long-lasting success. Due to dissatisfaction among Pudgy Penguins holders, the cartoon creatures, which were trading for $11 million a day by August, collapsed in September. NFT holders were unhappy with the way the founders developed the project, so a virtual community voted in January 2022 to expel the founders and put up the project for sale.

Now Pudgy Penguins have new owners, including social influencer Luca Netz and LDR Ventures’ Drew Koven, hoping to revive the NFT project. The development has led to an 87% increase in Pudgy Penguins’ floor price in the past week, according to DappRadar. 

However, it won’t be a cakewalk for sure. A number of NFT projects have popped up in recent months, bringing new products to Web 3 and much more. Bored Ape Yacht Club ($BAYC.NFT), the largest NFT collection, is planning a land sale on the metaverse and has already launched its native token. If we compare the current floor price, the $PUDGYPENGS.NFT is worth $6,330, while $BAYC.NFT is trading at $333,000. 

If Pudgy Penguins wants to stay in the race, it must work on a number of things, including artwork, publicity of the collection, perks to holders, celebrity support, etc. 

Whether or not Pudgy Penguins succeeds this year will be interesting to observe.