Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has changed his social media profile picture to a Milady NFT, marking another high-profile endorsement of the controversial anime-style NFT collection. This move comes a year or so after Elon Musk previously gave the collection attention through a meme tweet featuring Milady artwork.The endorsement from one of crypto’s most influential figures sent immediate ripples through the NFT market. However, not all traders profited from the news – blockchain data shows a whale lost approximately $80,900 after purchasing 14 Milady NFTs for 94.46 ETH ($312,000) and selling them within 30 minutes for just 69.08 ETH ($231,000).
Could Milady NFTs reach $100k? Milady Maker vs Pudgy Penguins & CryptoPunks
Milady and Pudgy Penguins represent two of the most successful “new wave” NFT collections, challenging established players like CryptoPunks. Currently, Milady has a market capitalization of around $167 million, while Pudgy Penguins commands approximately $600 million and CryptoPunks leads at $1.2 billion.
Each collection has cultivated its own distinct identity in the crypto space: Pudgy Penguins have established themselves as the cute, family-friendly face of NFTs, while Bored Apes represent flashy crypto wealth and sometimes criticized “ape-in” mentality. Miladys, in contrast, have developed a reputation as the intellectual dark horses of the space, often associated with sophisticated traders and what some playfully call “evil genius hackers.”
If Milady were to reach Pudgy Penguins’ current market capitalization, each Milady NFT would be worth roughly $60,000, a significant increase from current prices. More dramatically, achieving CryptoPunks’ valuation would put each Milady at approximately $121,500.
However, these projections come with significant caveats. NFT trading carries substantial risks, as demonstrated by yesterday’s whale loss. The market is highly volatile and illiquid, meaning large positions can be difficult to enter or exit without significant price impact.
Milady’s Cult Coin Launch
In December 2024, the Milady ecosystem expanded further with the launch of its CULT token following a successful $20 million presale. The launch featured an innovative claiming mechanism requiring participants to complete an IQ test, with a warning that failing would result in burned tokens. The test became part of the collection’s memetic culture, with community members jokingly claiming they had failed what was reportedly an impossible-to-fail assessment. CULT achieved a peak market capitalization of nearly $500 million at launch before settling around $250 million after a 48-hour period, positioning it as a significant player in the memecoin landscape.
That being said, the CULT’s price action has been disappointing speculators in the subsequent month, with the overall market cap slowly drifting to under $70 million. Vitalik Buterin’s unexpected embrace of Milady sent the price of CULT soaring over 100%