Pudgy Penguins is pushing its NFT identity deeper into mainstream retail with a new chapter for its trading card game. The Ethereum-based NFT brand says its Vibes Series 3 rollout is arriving at Target stores across the United States, marking what it calls the largest retail expansion for the card game so far.

In a press release shared with Cointelegraph, the company said the launch adds new gameplay mechanics and fresh artwork, alongside characters from its Moonbirds NFT collection. With Series 3, Pudgy Penguins also reports that a total of 15 million trading cards have been circulated.

Key takeaways

• Pudgy Penguins’ Vibes Series 3 is being rolled out nationwide at Target, expanding retail distribution beyond earlier launches.
• The company says total circulated Vibes cards will reach 15 million with the new set.
• Series 3 introduces additional gameplay mechanics and features artwork and appearances tied to the Moonbirds collection.
• Pudgy Penguins continues building a consumer franchise around its NFT IP via toys, licensing, and games—not just on-chain collectibles.

Vibes Series 3 arrives at Target

Vibes began as a way to translate Pudgy Penguins’ NFT ecosystem into a physical collectible format. With Series 3, the project is broadening its consumer reach through a major U.S. retailer.

According to the press release provided to Cointelegraph, the Target rollout is positioned as the biggest retail expansion to date for the Vibes trading card game. The set is designed to be more than a simple collectible: Pudgy Penguins says it includes additional gameplay mechanics, which can help keep the physical product connected to the broader “play-to-collect” narrative behind the project.

The new release also leans on cross-collection recognition. Pudgy Penguins says Series 3 incorporates original artwork and characters from its Moonbirds collection, adding a visible bridge between separate NFT communities in a format that doesn’t require buyers to navigate a crypto wallet.

Turning NFT IP into retail products

The Target push reflects a strategy Pudgy Penguins has been pursuing for years: use its NFT-born intellectual property as the foundation for consumer entertainment. While the trading card game is still rooted in its NFT universe, the company is increasingly developing physical and mainstream digital products that can appeal to audiences who may not engage with NFTs directly.

That approach has already shown up in retail. Pudgy Penguins has expanded into toys and other merchandising, and it previously announced that its physical toys entered more than 2,000 Walmart stores in 2023. In May 2024, CEO Luca Netz said in remarks to PRNewswire that more than 1 million toys had been sold over the preceding 12 months.

Pudgy Penguins also highlighted a licensing model that ties ownership to physical product value. The company says NFT holders can receive 5% of net revenue from physical products featuring their individual penguins, creating a continued link between on-chain ownership and offline sales.

For investors and traders watching NFT sector developments, this kind of mainstream retail rollout matters because it suggests a revenue model that is not solely dependent on market activity for the underlying NFTs. If adoption of physical products grows, it can reduce how directly the brand’s audience and monetization are tied to NFT speculation cycles—though the long-term economic balance remains something the market will need to monitor.

Series 3 follows earlier releases—and a gaming push

Pudgy Penguins’ Vibes rollout comes after two earlier trading card game releases, with Series 3 now positioned as the next step in the product roadmap. The brand says Vibes was developed in partnership with Orange Cap Games, and that Series 3 is the latest installment in a system meant to extend the IP beyond simple digital collectibles.

Beyond cards, Pudgy Penguins has also been working to bring its characters into blockchain gaming. In 2025, the company launched the skill-based game Pengu Clash on The Open Network. Netz described gaming as a way to expose the project’s intellectual property to wider audiences, treating play as a growth channel for the IP.

More recently, Pudgy Penguins expanded into mobile gaming with Pudgy Party. The company said in August 2025 that downloads for the title had exceeded 1 million. However, it later announced that it would halt further development of the game and redirect resources toward a browser-based project called Pudgy World, according to earlier Cointelegraph coverage.

This shift—expanding into new formats and then consolidating efforts—highlights a pattern common to emerging entertainment products: not every title keeps its original roadmap, and resources often move toward the games that show the clearest traction or fit with the brand’s longer-term distribution goals. For readers following Pudgy Penguins, the immediate question is whether the combined push across retail and gaming will reinforce each other, driving brand awareness that translates back into the community around Pudgy NFTs.

Where Pudgy Penguins sits in the NFT landscape

Even as the company emphasizes consumer products, Pudgy Penguins remains an established NFT brand in market terms. The press release points to NFT Price Floor data, noting that the project is the fourth-largest NFT collection by market capitalization, based on the tracker.

That positioning can be important context for why partnerships and cross-collection collaborations are feasible in physical formats. Large, recognizable NFT collections typically have more leverage to coordinate with other communities and to attract retail-facing distribution opportunities, especially when the product framing is tied to brand familiarity rather than crypto mechanics alone.

At the same time, the Vibes Series 3 announcement doesn’t specify how physical sales will translate into measurable on-chain outcomes. While the licensing structure suggests a direct economic bridge for holders, the broader impact on NFT demand, secondary-market behavior, or user conversion will likely be something to watch over the coming retail cycle—particularly after the Target rollout begins.

Next, investors and collectors will likely focus on how quickly Vibes cards sell through at Target, whether Series 3’s additional gameplay mechanics drive repeat purchases, and if Pudgy Penguins’ gaming and retail efforts continue to strengthen the brand’s customer funnel rather than fragment it across too many initiatives.

Attorney Ian R. Cohen has filed a new court rebuttal opposing efforts to revive a lawsuit that seeks control of roughly 3.8 million Bitcoin worth an estimated $238 billion, including wallets linked to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

According to a June 20 X thread posted by Galaxy Digital research head Alex Thorn, Cohen’s June 19 filing pushes back against attempts by plaintiffs’ attorney David Lin to overturn a court-ordered stay in a New York case involving 39,069 Bitcoin wallet addresses.

UPDATE IN CASE TO CLAIM LEGAL TITLE OVER SATOSHI’S BITCOIN

on may 29, @btclawyerguy filed an amicus arguing that the ‘noah doe’ case was bunk.. in response the court ordered a stay.. noah doe’s lawyers opposed the stay, but @btclawyerguy has just filed a strong rebuttal 👇 pic.twitter.com/WaB6lgJsdy

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— Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) June 20, 2026

The lawsuit was brought by anonymous plaintiffs identified as ABC Company, XYZ Company, and Noah Doe, who argue the wallets should be treated as abandoned property under New York law.

Earlier this month, New York Justice Kathy King granted a stay after Cohen sought permission to participate in the case as amicus counsel. A hearing related to the amicus application has been scheduled for July 14.

Cohen argued in his latest filing that the stay was issued by the court itself after reviewing the matter and was not simply granted at his request. According to the filing, the court exercised its authority under New York procedural law when it paused the proceedings.

Cohen says dormant wallets do not qualify as abandoned property

At the center of the dispute is the plaintiffs’ claim that long-inactive Bitcoin wallets can be classified as abandoned assets and transferred through a court order. Court documents cited by crypto.news previously showed that the plaintiffs contend the original owners can no longer access the funds because of an alleged technical flaw.

Among the addresses listed in the lawsuit are wallets associated with Satoshi Nakamoto and the “1Feex” address, which blockchain researchers and crypto investigators have linked to Bitcoin stolen during the Mt. Gox breach.

Cohen has repeatedly challenged the legal basis of the case. In earlier statements, he argued that New York’s lost-property laws do not apply to self-custodied Bitcoin, that inactivity alone does not establish abandonment, and that private keys fall outside the jurisdiction of New York courts.

His latest filing also disputes the practicality of the lawsuit. According to Cohen, the defendants are not identifiable individuals but 39,069 pseudonymous Bitcoin addresses, making it unlikely that the affected parties would appear in court to defend their interests.

The filing argues that lifting the stay could allow plaintiffs to secure a default judgment against the wallet addresses without meaningful opposition, potentially affecting property rights tied to billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin.

Recent blockchain activity challenges abandonment claims

Elsewhere in the filing, Cohen challenged the factual foundation of the abandonment argument by pointing to evidence that some of the targeted wallets have recently been active on-chain.

According to the filing, the complaint itself identified addresses that recorded outbound transactions, indicating that someone with access to the associated private keys had moved funds. Cohen cited those transactions as evidence that at least some wallet owners remain capable of controlling their Bitcoin.

Galaxy researchers reached a similar conclusion. Thorn said Galaxy identified 52 named addresses that collectively moved 34,335 BTC, while 29 of those addresses transferred 12,302 BTC after receiving notice of the lawsuit.

Criticism of the case has also emerged elsewhere in the crypto industry. Last month, Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz questioned how a New York court could assert authority over Bitcoin wallets whose owners are unknown and scattered across a decentralized network. 

According to Schwartz, the lawsuit’s jurisdictional argument was one of its most serious weaknesses, and he warned that the legal theory could ultimately result in people losing control of their crypto assets.

The debate has even drawn comparisons to future discussions about dormant Bitcoin holdings. Recently, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao suggested that wallets linked to inactive owners, including those believed to belong to Satoshi, could one day be frozen after a transition to quantum-resistant cryptography if their holders fail to move funds within a designated migration period. 

Zhao said any such change would require community consensus and would not be decided by a single individual.

Bio Protocol has launched OpenLabs, a platform that combines AI-assisted research development, community funding, and on-chain governance as its ecosystem surpasses $33 million in capital raised.

According to Bio Protocol, the platform was introduced on June 19 during DeSci.Berlin 2026, an event held at KÖNIG GALERIE as part of Berlin Blockchain Week.

How does science go from idea to funded execution?

At DeSci Berlin, we announced that Bio is building OpenLabs, a coordination and collaboration layer where humans and agents turn scientific ideas into funded execution.

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What OpenLabs brings:

• A shared surface where humans… pic.twitter.com/K6i3op9rDt

— Bio Protocol (@BioProtocol) June 19, 2026

The project said OpenLabs is designed to let researchers develop scientific ideas, coordinate with contributors, and seek funding through a single interface rather than relying on separate grant applications, governance platforms, and collaboration tools.

At the event, Bio Protocol presented OpenLabs as an alternative to traditional research funding processes, which often involve lengthy review cycles and institutional oversight. The project stated that community members can vote on research proposals while AI-powered workflows assist researchers in developing and refining projects.

Despite the launch, Bio Protocol (BIO) continued to trade lower alongside the broader crypto market. The token declined more than 8% in the past 24 hours as investors assessed the hawkish tone adopted by Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh and uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the proposed U.S.-Iran peace framework.

OpenLabs combines research collaboration with funding decisions

Under the model described by Bio Protocol, researchers and community participants work within the same platform where project development and funding decisions occur. The BIO token functions as the governance and utility asset used in voting and ecosystem participation.

Bio Protocol highlighted two projects during the launch. According to the team, RheumaAI is being developed as an AI agent focused on rheumatology research, while PeptAI is focused on peptide discovery.

The project stated that OpenLabs integrates AI-driven processes into scientific collaboration while allowing token holders and community members to participate in funding decisions. Rather than relying solely on traditional grant committees, project proposals can be reviewed and supported through community governance mechanisms built into the platform.

DeSci.Berlin has previously served as a venue for decentralized science initiatives. According to Bio Protocol, earlier editions of the conference helped incubate projects, including Molecule Labs.

Bio Protocol expands its decentralized science infrastructure

OpenLabs forms part of Bio Protocol’s existing decentralized science strategy. According to the project, it has been developing infrastructure that uses tokenized intellectual property and BioDAOs to direct funding toward biotechnology and scientific research programs.

Bio Protocol said its BIO Genesis initiative has raised more than $33 million to date. The project describes BIO Genesis as a fundraising mechanism that supports research-focused organizations operating within its ecosystem.

Bio Protocol’s work with AI research tools predates OpenLabs. In August 2025, the project launched the Ignition Sale for Aubrai, a decentralized BioAgent developed with VitaDAO for longevity research. According to Bio Protocol, Aubrai functions as an on-chain AI co-scientist capable of generating hypotheses and helping design laboratory experiments.

According to Bio Protocol, the decentralized science sector seeks to apply blockchain-based systems to research funding, governance, and intellectual property management. Supporters of the model argue that transparent funding records and community participation can provide alternatives to conventional research financing structures.

Regulatory questions remain a potential challenge as these models evolve. Tokenized intellectual property tied to biotechnology projects intersects with securities regulations, patent frameworks, and pharmaceutical oversight requirements.

As research programs progress from early-stage concepts to commercial development, legal and compliance obligations could become more complex for projects operating in the decentralized science sector.

May 26: The company confirmed it had used its cash reserve to finance the bond repurchase. The transaction had reduced the fund to $871 million.

The buyback reduced that reserve to roughly six months of STRC dividend coverage. The company had previously said the plan was to maintain about 24 months of dividend coverage.

STRC traded at $99.33, bitcoin hovered around $77,000.

June 1: Strategy sold 32 BTC, its first bitcoin sale since 2022. The move appeared intended to demonstrate that the company was willing and able to sell the token if necessary to fund dividend obligations.

The sale accounted for just 0.0038% of the company’s holdings. Nevertheless, the company’s common stock (MSTR) dropped 5.9% and bitcoin fell to as low as $70,500 before closing at $71,286. STRC closed at $98.07.

June 5: Bitcoin fell below $60,000 for the first time since October 2024, closing around $61,000, according to CoinDesk data. STRC dropped to as low as $90 to end the day at $93.40.

June 8: Strategy shareholders approve the plan to pay STRC dividends twice a month. Strategy bought 1,550 BTC and said the balance of its dollar reserve had risen to $1 billion.

June 15: Strategy bought another 1,587 BTC and said the balance of its dollar reserve was now $1.1 billion.

TLDR:

• Strategy holds 847,000 BTC worth ~$54B, exceeding debt by approximately $48 billion today.
• The firm raised over $60B post-2022 crisis and added more than 716,000 BTC to reserves.
• Bitcoin trades at $63,703, a level analysts call a critical decision point for the market.
• Critics flag leverage risks in STRC preferred stock while supporters cite Saylor’s track record.

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Strategy Inc. has completed one of the most dramatic reversals in corporate financial history. The firm, formerly known as MicroStrategy, held 130,000 BTC worth roughly $2.6 billion in October 2022.

Its stock traded at $24 on a split-adjusted basis, and Bitcoin was near $20,000. Weeks later, debt outpaced the company’s combined Bitcoin and cash reserves by $300 million. At press time, Strategy’s reserves exceed its debt by approximately $48 billion.

From the Edge of Insolvency to a $54 Billion Bitcoin Treasury

The months following October 2022 were the company’s most precarious. Bitcoin fell below $16,000 by year-end, and Strategy’s stock dropped into the $13 range.

The situation was bleak by any measure, yet the company did not liquidate its Bitcoin holdings. Instead, it stayed focused and continued executing its core accumulation strategy.

That commitment proved decisive. Strategy raised over $60 billion in additional capital in the years that followed. Every dollar went into Bitcoin, adding more than 716,000 BTC to the company’s treasury. The firm now holds approximately 847,000 BTC, valued at roughly $54 billion at current market prices.

Michael Saylor, co-founder and executive chairman, reflected on the journey in a recent post on X. He wrote that when he delivered a key speech in October 2022, few could have predicted the turnaround that followed. He credited those who believed in the long-term thesis and endured the drawdown.

Bitcoin trades at $63,703 according to Coingecko data, representing a 1.91% gain in the past 24 hours. Strategy’s BTC and cash reserves now far exceed the company’s debt obligations, marking a total swing of roughly $48.3 billion from the low point in 2022.

Bitcoin’s Technical Level and What Comes Next for the Market

As Strategy’s balance sheet draws attention, Bitcoin itself sits at a critical price zone. Analyst Mister Crypto flagged the $63,000 range as a decisive area in a recent X post.

He noted that this level served as resistance in 2021, acted as a launchpad in 2024, and now functions as support in the current market cycle.

According to the analyst, the outcome from this zone determines the next major move. A hold above $63,000 would suggest range formation and a possible bottom. A breakdown below it could trigger further capitulation before any sustained recovery begins.

This technical context matters for Strategy directly. The company’s entire financial structure depends on Bitcoin’s price trajectory.

Critics have raised concerns about its high-leverage preferred stock, STRC, which trades at $88. They also point to a recent, small BTC sale the company executed to cover dividend payments.

Supporters counter that Saylor has navigated extreme pressure before and emerged stronger each time. The 2022 crisis was a clear test of that thesis.

With reserves now exceeding debt by $48 billion, the data currently favors those who held the long view on Strategy’s Bitcoin strategy.

Non-fungible token (NFT) project Pudgy Penguins has expanded the retail reach of its trading card game through a nationwide rollout at Target stores in the United States. 

According to a press release sent to Cointelegraph, the launch of Vibes Series 3 marks the game’s biggest retail expansion to date and brings the total number of circulated cards to 15 million. The new set includes additional gameplay mechanics, original artwork and appearances from characters in the Moonbirds collection. 

The rollout shows how Pudgy Penguins is extending its NFT-born intellectual property into mainstream consumer products as it aims to build a broader entertainment franchise beyond digital assets. 

Pudgy Penguins developed Vibes in partnership with Orange Cap Games, with Series 3 following two earlier releases. The digital collectible project is the fourth-largest NFT collection by market capitalization, according to data tracker NFT Price Floor. 

Top five NFT collections by market capitalization. Source: NFT Price Floor

Pudgy Penguins builds beyond NFTs

The project has also expanded into toys, gaming, licensing and other consumer products.

Pudgy Penguins has spent years turning its Ethereum-based NFT collection into a broader consumer brand. Its physical toys entered more than 2,000 Walmart stores in 2023, and CEO Luca Netz said in May 2024 that more than 1 million toys had been sold over the preceding 12 months.

The project’s licensing model also allows NFT holders to receive 5% of net revenue from physical products featuring their individual penguins.

Related: Binance to end NFT support on exchange, shift service to wallet

The franchise has pursued a similar expansion through gaming. In 2025, Pudgy Penguins launched the skill-based Pengu Clash game on The Open Network. At the time, Netz described gaming as a vehicle for bringing the project’s intellectual property to wider audiences.

It also launched a mobile game called Pudgy Party in August 2025. According to Pudgy Penguins, the game’s downloads exceeded 1 million. However, the project said on Monday that it would halt further development of the game and focus its resources on a browser-based game called Pudgy World. 

Magazine: Vietnam preps crypto pilot, HK pushes tokenization: Asia Express

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor has defended the company’s Bitcoin-backed capital strategy after its STRC preferred stock fell well below its $100 par value and triggered fresh criticism from market participants.

According to a June 20 X post by Saylor, Strategy’s Bitcoin and cash reserves currently exceed its outstanding debt by approximately $48 billion. He noted that the company has raised more than $60 billion in additional capital since 2022 and used those funds to acquire Bitcoin.

When I gave this speech in October 2022, Bitcoin traded near $20,000, Strategy held 130,000 BTC worth about $2.6 billion, and $MSTR was ~$24 split-adjusted. Weeks later, after Bitcoin fell below $16,000, our debt exceeded the combined value of our BTC and cash reserves by ~$300… pic.twitter.com/nWl9YlN11s

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) June 20, 2026

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To illustrate the contrast with today, Saylor pointed to Strategy’s position during the 2022 crypto bear market. At the time, the company held around 130,000 Bitcoin worth roughly $2.6 billion while Bitcoin traded near $20,000.

After the cryptocurrency fell below $16,000, Strategy’s debt temporarily exceeded the combined value of its Bitcoin and cash reserves by about $300 million. During the same period, MSTR stock declined from around $24 to the $13 range on a split-adjusted basis.

“We stayed focused, strengthened the company, and executed our strategy. Since then, Strategy has raised over $60 billion of additional capital and invested it in Bitcoin, adding more than 716,000 BTC,” said Saylor.

The comments arrived as investors debated the implications of STRC’s recent decline and questioned whether the company’s financing model remains sustainable.

Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff escalated those concerns by suggesting that investors could pursue legal action against Strategy and Saylor. Schiff also argued that Saylor may have violated SEC marketing rules through the way he promoted the preferred stock offering.

Some investors see Bitcoin sales as the simplest solution

Recent pressure on STRC has also prompted alternative proposals from market observers.

As previously reported by crypto.news, Arca Chief Investment Officer Jeff Dorman suggested the company may eventually need to sell between $3 billion and $4 billion worth of Bitcoin to ease pressure on its capital structure and support STRC holders.

While Dorman assigned a 25% probability to that outcome, he said his base-case scenario, with a 70% probability, involves Strategy continuing to sell small amounts of MSTR stock. Under that scenario, Bitcoin holdings would remain largely intact, though common shareholders could face additional downside.

Supporters reject comparisons to Terra

While criticism has intensified, several Bitcoin advocates have publicly defended Saylor and Strategy.

Fox and Sky News contributor David Gokhshtein argued on X that Bitcoin’s current market value cannot be attributed to a single individual. He criticized efforts to blame Saylor for broader market movements and dismissed comparisons between Strategy and the collapsed Terra ecosystem.

Those comparisons gained traction after crypto analyst Ali Martinez suggested similarities between STRC and Terra’s LUNA token structure. Responding to the debate, Bitcoin advocate Samson Mow described STRC as a “brilliant instrument” and stated that he sees no structural flaw in the security unless investors believe Bitcoin will fail to appreciate over the long term.

$STRC is a brilliant instrument. It’s effectively what I tried to do with Bitcoin Bonds: strip out the volatility from Bitcoin and share the upside with investors. There is a massive market for a product like this somewhere in the ballpark of $200 trillion.

There’s nothing…

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— Samson Mow (@Excellion) June 19, 2026

Separate concerns have also emerged around liquidity. Market maker QCP previously estimated that Strategy’s available resources could cover preferred dividend obligations for roughly seven and a half months.

QCP added that if existing financing channels become less attractive, alternative funding options may eventually be required, with Bitcoin sales remaining one possible path.