The cryptocurrency world is a volatile, fast moving environment that is ever-changing with the emergence of new trends and developments. The Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market has returned in a big way. It’s this latest boom that is stealing the headlines and sucking investment out of more stable markets, including meme cryptocurrencies. This change has hit tokens like PENGU, DOOD, and ANIME especially hard. Each of these tokens relates to different parts of the digital collectible landscape.

PENGU's Price Rally Amidst NFT Resurgence

PENGU, the utility and governance token tied to the growing Pudgy Penguins NFT collection, has seen a significant price pump. Over the last month, PENGU has undergone astronomical gains. Currently priced at around $0.03713, Waves has seen a 24 hour increase of 19.686% and a remarkable 310% increase over the last month. Whether you believe in AI crypto or not, this rally catapulted PENGU’s market capitalization to more than $2.4 billion. Here are a few of the reasons that contributed to this explosion. In particular, whale wallets increased buying activity with net increases of ~200 million $PENGU since July 1.

High-profile partnerships, such as a NASCAR collaboration, and rumors of an ETF listing have contributed to PENGU's price appreciation. The NFT market has been staging a dramatic comeback, most notably with the $10 million purchase of 45 CryptoPunks. This resurgence has created even more interest in PENGU, primarily due to its connection to the popular NFT project. With this homecoming rebound comes the hard road ahead for PENGU. Newer and established iterators of NFT projects and platforms have the potential to siphon investor capital from niche meme coins.

Comparing PENGU to DOOD and ANIME

PENGU has a large market cap of more than $2 billion. Other NFT-related tokens such as DOOD and ANIME offer contrasting perspectives on the market. DOOD, one of the Doodles NFT collection, has a current FDV of $32 million. This value is much smaller than that of PENGU. Like PENGU, DOOD was drawn to launch on Solana due to its speed and low-cost transactions. PENGU allocated 43% of its very small token supply to the community via airdrops. In contrast, DOOD rejected an isolated or centralized distribution model from the very beginning.

These tokens allow users to develop a more personal connection with the brands they represent. One potential use for holding PENGU or DOOD includes giving users governance voting rights on community proposals or giving them early access to building new products. PENGU advanced quickly after the hedge fund Canary Capital filed for an ETF and crypto pioneer Justin Sun jumped on board. In parallel, DOOD is closely connected to Doodles’ technical roadmap. ANIME, associated with Animecoin, has been making waves with its recent claim of a Burger King x Naruto partnership. Each token uses their association with NFTs to build distinct value props and foster their own communities of interest.

Investment Opportunities and Risks

The rapidly growing, changing, and complex digital asset market is full of potential but dangerous to unwary investors. The NFT market is bouncing back in a big way. Most importantly though, their act underscores the shift away from symbolic benefits to tangible ones such as verifying ownership, creating new revenue streams, and improving community engagement. Fortune 500 brands like Starbucks and Lufthansa are already launching loyalty programs using NFTs, indicating a growing trend of integrating NFTs into mainstream applications. Additionally, NFTs can be employed to tokenize real-world assets, guaranteeing the ethical procurement of high-value assets such as gemstones. Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization offers many exciting possibilities. It does this by converting those illiquid RWAs into very liquid on-chain tokens, making it possible for investors to instantly invest across borders into infrastructure and other similar projects.

We should recognize the many dangers posed by new meme coins like PENGU. The token’s volatility, both to the upside with a 27% daily rally and even more dramatic 690% increase after recent Coinbase announcements to support the token. Its value is mostly driven by speculation and sentiment. This renders it extremely vulnerable to market manipulation and to sudden changes in investor sentiment. PENGU’s value is different from other types of investments. It is not backed by any physical assets or cash flows, and thus it is very hard to calculate its intrinsic value. Regulatory risks, including sudden changes in the ETF approval landscape or cryptocurrency crackdowns, could pose risks to PENGU’s price and adoption.

Investors need to be smart about jumping into the NFT and meme coin craze. They need to do more in-depth research to understand the risks they may create. The NFT market is experiencing a renaissance, merging with the surging crypto market, reaching all-time highs. Yet, the speculative nature of these assets requires a serious level of due diligence before jumping into the deep end.