PENGU's debut sparked a surge on the Solana blockchain, resulting in more transactions than the combined activity of other leading blockchains.

Dec 18, 2024, 2:35 p.m. UTC

Solana's network activity lit up on Tuesday as the Pudgy Penguins NFT project debuted its native token, PENGU, on the programmable blockchain.

The layer 1 blockchain, considered a cheap alternative to Ethereum, registered a total transaction tally of 66.9 million, the highest since its inception in 2020, according to data source Artemis. To highlight how busy it was, Solana's transaction count eclipsed the total of all other major chains combined.

Solana also led other blockchains in terms of daily decentralized exchange trading volume and daily active addresses but lagged Base, Ethereum and Tron in the stablecoin transfer volume.

Since the dawn of the ongoing crypto bull run in early 2024, Solana has been a go-to blockchain for retail investors looking to make a quick buck from memecoins, NFTs and other smaller tokens.

Tuesday was no different, as holders of original Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys, Rogs, and Soul Bound Tokens (SBT) lined up for the PENGU airdrop, which began at 08:00 ET. The project reported over 100,000 claims in the first hour with over 4.7 million website views.

PENGU debuted at a market cap of $2.3 billion but has since seen the value drop to $2 billion, according to data from Coingecko.

Solana's SOL token rose 3.2% to $229 on Tuesday, following the market leader bitcoin higher. However, the token has struggled to keep the momentum going today, receding to $217, likely representing caution ahead of the Fed rate decision.