The now-defunct cryptocurrency hedge company Three Arrows Capital (3AC) once owned 144 Pudgy Penguin NFTs, which are being bought by Spencer Ventures, a well-funded venture capital fund. The auction house Sotheby's handled the negotiations for the purchase, which was valued hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sotheby's had previously made $11 million from a 3AC bankruptcy auction in June 2023.
48 of these 144 Pudgy Penguin NFTs will go to Spencer Ventures, who will own them. One of these NFTs, which can be seen in Sotheby's wallet, has the highly prized ice crown, which at the time of writing had a highest offer on OpenSea valued at 6.6 wrapped ether, or over $10,500.
The purchase also includes an airdrop of 48 Lil' Pudgys and 48 Pudgy Rods, a set of fishing rods that were first made available as free-to-claim NFTs in August 2021.
The collection's capacity to hold its worth over time was one of the driving drivers behind this acquisition. In contrast to many other NFT initiatives, Gordon-Sand, a representative of Spencer Ventures, observed that the price of Pudgy Penguins has remained quite near to its all-time high. According to CoinGecko statistics, the collection's current floor price is just under 5 ether (ETH), which is less than its all-time high floor price of about 7.1 ether (ETH).
Following the June 15 asset sale of 3AC, which netted creditors $11 million, negotiations between Spencer Ventures and Sotheby's started. After Gordon-Sand, a bidder, expressed interest in the Pudgy Penguins, there were several months of protracted negotiations before the agreement was finally finalized a few weeks ago. On Tuesday, these priceless NFT assets will be transferred from Sotheby's to Spencer Ventures.
