📝#105: PENGU
Google's new quantum computing chip. Pudgy Penguin launches token. Hugo Boss's IRL sales on Roblox. A new prediction platform launched. Apple's AI updates.
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“In benchmark tests, Willow solved a standard computation in <5 mins that would take a leading supercomputer over 10^25 years, far beyond the age of the universe(!).”
— Sundar Pichai on Google’s new quantum computing chip
This week’s question:
👉 Keep up with all our signals for Web3 execs on our Telegram channel.
Let’s dive in🦈
📚 Our Top Reads This Week
ATP Tour’s Web3 Playbook [Podcast]. 51 Insights. Link
Stablecoin: The Trillion Dollar Opportunity. Mason Nystrom. Link
Understanding Decentralized AI Networks [Podcast]. Fintech Blueprint. Link
Sahara AI: The Decentralized Blockchain Platform for an Open, Equitable, and Collaborative AI Economy. SBR. Link
Crypto’s Role in the AI Agent Economy. Link
The Long-Term Forecast for Quantum Computing. BCG. Link
Stripe’s CTO and Coinbase’s CMO Bet Big on AI Economy. Fintech Blueprint. Link
The problem with debanking. a16z crypto. Link
From Measurable to Memorable: The Evolution of Crypto Marketing. Safary. Link
Building Economy Across NFTs
At Art Basel Miami, Pudgy Penguin, a top NFT collection, announced its native token PENGU.
The token will launched on Solana this year.
What you should know: Pudgy launched a set of 8,888 NFTs (price/NFT now at $100K) in 2021, further extended with the Lil Pudgy collection (22k+ holders).
PENGU Token:
Total supply: 88,888,888,888
Major allocation: 25.9%- Pudgy community; 24.12%- Other communities; 17.8%- Team; 12.35%- Liquidity & 11.48%- Company.
Mainstream Presence: The Pudgy Toys line, available at retailers like Walmart, and Target, generated $10M+ in sales.
Market Standing: Third-largest NFT collection by market cap, valued at $550M.
Social Presence: 1.6M+ on Instagram, 34B+ views on GIPHY, 500K+ on TikTok (Official) & 1.1M+ on Pudgy Kindness
Why it matters: When NFTs are losing momentum, Pudgy is leaning in with a bold move: launching PENGU. This is the first major NFT project to release a token since Yuga Labs dropped APE in 2022. PENGU token connects the digital and physical worlds, tying together NFTs, merchandise, and social media engagement under one ecosystem, building an economic network.
What they’re saying:
“With $PENGU, the millions of Pudgy Penguin fans and the hundreds of millions of people who see and share the Pudgy Penguin every day now get the opportunity to align themselves with the character and become a part of The Huddle.”
Stepping back: Igloo Inc., the parent company of Pudgy, introduced Abstract, a consumer-focused L2 blockchain this year, creating a complete ecosystem with its other companies: Redacted and Overpass.
The big picture: With the $PENGU token rollout and the partnership with Mythical Games to launch a mobile game in 2025, Pudgy is building a scalable ecosystem—one that connects the digital, physical, and financial worlds.
Rumours broke that they also want to buy OpenSea.
Google Introduced Willow
Google introduced Willow, its new state-of-the-art quantum computing chip, cracking a 30-year challenge in the field.
The goals? Faster computation and real-time quantum error correction.
What you should know: The 105-qubit Willow chip completed a random circuit sampling benchmark in under 5 minutes—a task that would take supercomputers 10 septillion years, far beyond the age of the universe(!).
It can advance drug discovery, fusion energy, and battery design.
The current state: Current quantum computers have 50-100 qubits, not yet capable of breaking RSA-2048 encryption.
Funding: Quantum computing startups secured $1.5B in venture funding across 50 deals by November 2024.
Bitcoin’s encryption: A quantum computer with 13M qubits could break Bitcoin encryption in a day, while 300M qubits could do it in an hour; likely not achievable until the 2030s or later.
By the data: Quantum computing could generate $450–$850B in economic value by 2040, supporting a $90–$170B market for hardware and software.
The big picture: Quantum computing is advancing rapidly, with the number of physical qubits doubling every 1-2 years since 2018. We are currently in the Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) era, where practical applications remain limited. Achieving full-scale fault tolerance may take another 5-7 years.
Devil’s advocate: Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computers (CRQCs) could compromise common encryption methods (e.g., RSA-2048) in the next 5–10 years, posing risks to industries reliant on secure data.
What’s next: Google invites developers to explore its quantum roadmap, open-source tools, and a new Coursera course on error correction.
🤖An Update on AI
1. OpenAI
It rolled out the Canvas feature to all users, combining real-time editing with conversational AI.
ChatGPT Pro has been introduced with unlimited access to the OpenAI o1 model.
It teased a new AI agent, built on GPT-4o, demonstrating its ability to handle complex customer service tasks like product returns.
2. Google
It launched Gemini 2.0, with multimodal and AI agent capabilities, including image and audio generation, plus integration with Google Search and Maps.
Gemini-Exp-1206 model has overtaken OpenAI's ChatGPT-4o on the Chatbot Arena leaderboard, excelling in math, writing, visuals, and video processing.
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🚨 Other Highlights You Can’t Miss
USD₮ is now recognized as an accepted virtual asset in Abu Dhabi. Link
Rug Radio alongside Pudgy Penguins launched Myriad Markets, a prediction platform. Link
Hugo Boss enables physical product purchases on Roblox. Link
Apple introduced new AI features to its Apple Intelligence suite. Link
🚨 Top Under-The-Radar Macro Signals:
Crypto: Global daily crypto users hit a record 18.7M, up from 7.7M at the start of 2024.
Enterprise: MicroStrategy has spent $2.1B to acquire 21,550 more bitcoins, bringing its total holdings to 423,650 BTC, valued at $41.5B.
Regulation:
Australia's proposed stricter AML/CTF rules to combat financial crime, with feedback open until February 2025.
Iran shifts focus to regulating digital currencies, aiming to mitigate risks and harness their economic potential.
Partnerships: Circle partnered with Binance to integrate USDC across its suite of products, giving Circle access to over 240M users.
Acquisition: DegenzNFT is being acquired by Dastan, the parent company of RugRadio, Decrypt, and MyriadMarkets.
👉 Keep up with all our signals for Web3 execs on our Telegram channel.
💰 Money Moves
Klickl: Web3 banking service provider raised $25M led by Aptos. Link
Hyperbolic Labs: AI cloud platform raised $12M led by Polychain Capital. Link
Kast Finance: Fintech platform raised $10M led by Peak XV Partners. Link
That’s all for now, folks.
Talk soon,
– Marc & Team
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