Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, has recently sold more than a dozen NFTs, including a Pudgy Penguin for over $30,000. Cuban's wallet, which is associated with his ownership of the Mavericks, still contains approximately 1,600 items, according to OpenSea data. Cuban has been a vocal proponent of NFTs, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. He has also invested in OpenSea, the platform on which he sold the Pudgy Penguin NFT.

The Pudgy Penguins NFT collection, created in 2021 by Cole Villemain and three other colleagues, features 8,888 unique cartoon penguins with varying traits and rarity. The collection was initially priced at 0.03 ETH per NFT. However, following the founders' inability to meet promised developments and allegations of a rug pull, the community voted to oust the founders, and the project was later acquired by Luca Netz in 2022.

Under Luca Netz's ownership, Pudgy Penguins has continued to operate and grow its community and ecosystem. The project has expanded beyond NFTs, releasing a line of Pudgy Toys available on major retailers like Walmart and Amazon. The toys are a gateway to the Pudgy World, a metaverse on the zkSync Era network, where owners can claim their characters.

Pudgy Penguins NFTs have a floor price of around 5.4 ETH, and the collection boasts a daily trading volume of approximately 120 ETH. The project occupies the fifth position in NFT projects ranked by total market capitalization. Pudgy Penguins has a vibrant community of almost two million cumulative followers across multiple social media outlets.

Each Pudgy Penguin NFT possesses unique traits and rarity, with values determined by appearance, rarity and demand. The costliest Pudgy Penguins NFT to date is #6873, which fetched over $640,000 (400 ETH) in its most recent sale in August 2022 and previously went for $788,000 (225 ETH) in September 2021.

Pudgy Penguins are known as Pengus, and holders are referred to as Huddlers. Holders receive privileges such as joining the Pudgy Penguins community, using their NFTs for commercial purposes and attending exclusive events. The proof of ownership and metadata of each Pudgy Penguin are engraved on the Ethereum blockchain, where each Penguin is an ERC-721 non-fungible token minted on the Ethereum blockchain.

The utilities of Pudgy Penguins NFTs are mainly communal and business-oriented, with holders having the freedom to explore extra use cases for their NFTs on commercial, marketing or other grounds, provided they don't breach legal terms as specified in the IP rights. Apart from the initial Pudgy Penguins NFT collection, other related projects have grown under its hood, including Lil Pudgy NFTs and Pudgy Rods. These projects make up the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem, which aims to provide a community of both crypto-native and non-crypto-native consumers with enjoyable products, experiences and content.

In summary, Pudgy Penguins is more than just an NFT project; it is a transcendent IP brand that has grown significantly since its inception. The project's growth and expansion into various areas, including toys and metaverse, demonstrate its potential for further development and community engagement. However, it is essential to understand the scope of an NFT project before investing, and this article is for educational purposes only and not financial advice.