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COINDESK'S LATEST SPOT BITCOIN ETF APPROVAL COVERAGE

Click on the headline for the latest news on the landmark U.S. approval of spot bitcoin ETFs.

Updated Jan 12, 2024, 2:41 p.m. Published Jan 12, 2024, 1:47 p.m.
New York Stock Exchange with banner flagging ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF on the day it started trading.
(Cheyenne Ligon/CoinDesk)

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Pudgy Penguins: A New Blueprint for Tokenized Culture

Pudgy Title Image

Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale.

What to know:

Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token.

The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility.

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UAE's central bank has approved a USD-backed stablecoin

Dubai UAE (Pexels, Pixabay)

The USDU stablecoin is issued by Universal Digital, a crypto firm regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).

What to know:

  • Reserves backing USDU are held 1:1 in safeguarded onshore accounts at Universal’s banking partners: Emirates NBD and Mashreq, with Mbank.
  • Digital asset infrastructure firm Aquanow has been appointed as a global distribution partner, supporting institutional access to USDU outside the UAE.