NFTs Are Quietly Coming Back — Pudgy Penguins, Taproot Wizards, and the $53B Volume Nobody Noticed

Raise your hand if you thought NFTs were dead. Yeah, most of crypto did too. But while everyone was busy watching BTC bleed from $130K, the NFT market quietly did $53 billion in volume over the past year — and the trending section on CoinGecko right now tells an interesting story.

What Is Trending

• Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) — trending #5 on CoinGecko, rank #108 by market cap
• Taproot Wizards — top trending NFT collection (Bitcoin native)
• Milady Maker — cult following, still culturally relevant
• NodeMonkes — Bitcoin Ordinals collection, blue chip status

Notice something? Two of the top three trending NFT collections are on Bitcoin. Not Ethereum. Not Solana. Bitcoin.

The Bitcoin NFT Shift

Ordinals changed the game. When BRC-20 tokens and Bitcoin NFTs launched, the maxi crowd lost their minds. But the market spoke: people want digital collectibles on the most secure, most decentralized chain in existence.

Taproot Wizards and NodeMonkes are not just JPEGs — they represent a cultural shift. Bitcoin is no longer just "digital gold." It is becoming a platform for culture, art, and speculation. Whether the maxis like it or not.

Pudgy Penguins — From Joke to Empire

PENGU launched as a token for the Pudgy Penguins NFT community and somehow became a legitimate crypto asset. Market cap rank #108 and trending globally. The team has physical toys in Walmart, a viral TikTok presence, and one of the strongest communities in crypto.

This is what crypto consumer brands look like. Not DeFi protocols with 47-page whitepapers — cute penguins that normies actually want to buy.

But Is It Sustainable?

Here is the reality check. The broader market is in extreme fear (Fear & Greed at 9). Total crypto market cap is down to $2.39T. In this environment, NFT pumps tend to be short-lived rotations of bored capital looking for dopamine.

The collections that survive bear markets are the ones with real communities, real utility, or real cultural significance. Pudgy Penguins might qualify. Most others will not.

0xShadow Take

NFTs are not dead — they just shed the tourist money. What is left is a smaller but more convicted market. Bitcoin NFTs are the new frontier. Pudgy Penguins proved that crypto consumer brands can work. And the $53B in volume says there is still real money flowing.

Do not ape into random collections. But do not write off the space either. The next bull run's biggest cultural plays will come from NFTs — they always do. 🐧