DWF Ventures: Interpreting the 4 hottest NFT token trends

The NFT space, after peaking in early 2022, has seen a recent resurgence with projects like Pudgy Penguins and Azuki launching tokens.
Key trends include "infrastructure layout," where OG NFT projects like Pudgy Penguins (L2), Azuki (L3), BAYC (L3), and Memeland (L2) are building their own blockchain networks.
Recent token launches ($PENGU and $ANIME) may inspire more NFT projects to issue tokens, with over 50% often allocated to communities.
Pudgy Penguins' $PENGU, launched on Solana, saw NFT floor prices hit 35 ETH, while Azuki's $ANIME is tied to AnimeChain, an L3 on Arbitrum Orbit.
Memeland launched $MEME in 2023 and later introduced Memenet, an Ethereum-based L2, while BAYC's $APE powers ApeChain, an Arbitrum Orbit L3.
These moves highlight a shift toward ecosystem expansion through tokens and blockchain infrastructure.

Author: DWF Ventures

Compiled by: Shan Ouba, Golden Finance

The NFT space enjoyed a boom during the “NFT Summer” of 2021 and peaked in early 2022. However, activity has declined significantly since then.

However, NFT popularity has recently rebounded with the token issuance of @pudgypenguins and @Azuki.

Let’s take a deeper look at the recent NFT token trend.

Key Takeaways

Despite the slowdown in the NFT space over the past two years, developers are still actively building and creating more added value for their ecosystem (such as launching new tokens and new chains).
"Infrastructure layout" has become a new trend for OG NFT projects. Pudgy Penguins (L2), Azuki (L3), BAYC (L3), and Memeland (L2) have entered the infrastructure field and created new blockchain networks. In particular, BAYC and Memeland decided to build their own new chains a few months after launching their tokens.
The recent launch of $PENGU and $ANIME may inspire other NFT projects to follow suit. As a result, we may see more NFT projects launch new tokens in the coming year.

Key NFT Projects

To better understand the current NFT ecosystem, we will conduct an in-depth analysis of the following projects and their token strategies: Pudgy Penguins, Azuki, BoredApeYC, and Memeland.

Pudgy Penguins

Pudgy Penguins has two related tokens: $PENGU (community/meme token) and @Abstract_Eco (L2). In December 2024, $PENGU was launched on Solana, with more than 50% of the tokens distributed to the community through airdrops. Influenced by the airdrop expectations, the floor price of Pudgy NFT once reached a record high of 35 ETH. As of now, according to @Dune data, $PENGU has 615,000 on-chain holders.

AbstractChain is a consumer-oriented zk-rollup L2, formerly Frame, which was acquired by @IglooInc. Although the relevant tokens have not yet been issued, both the Abstract and Pudgy communities are looking forward to the launch of the Abstract mainnet in the first quarter of 2025.

Azuki

@Azuki launched @animecoin token this month. Its NFT floor price rose by 2 ETH following the announcement. $ANIME is tied to AnimeChain, an anime-focused L3 chain (built on Arbitrum Orbit). Similar to $PENGU, $ANIME plans to allocate more than 50% of tokens to the community. In addition to the company and team/advisor portions, the rest of the tokens will be fully unlocked at launch.

Memeland

@Memeland is a Web3-focused game studio that has launched multiple games and NFT series. In April 2023, Memeland launched the $MEME token and covered all of Memeland's NFT series, including MVP, Captainz, and Potatoz, through airdrops.

A year later, Memeland launched Memenet, an L2 network based on Ethereum.

BAYC

@yugalabs is the company behind the NFT series @BoredApeYC and MAYC. In May 2022, they launched @apecoin, the first blue-chip NFT token on the market. $APE is the governance and utility token used within the APE ecosystem.

In September 2024, they also launched ApeChain, an @arbitrum Orbit L3 network similar to @Azuki's AnimeChain. In line with $APE's strategy, ApeChain is a new chain released a few months after the token launch.