Igloo, Inc. (“Igloo”), Pudgy Penguins’ parent company with a mission to onboard the next generation of builders and users onchain by fostering community, culture, and creativity, today announced the acquisition of the Frame team, a team of pioneering crypto developers. Frame co-founders and notable blockchain developers Cygaar and Beans will contribute towards building a new Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain, Abstract, designed to take on the consumer crypto opportunity. Frame will be sunsetted.
Frame was launched in 2023 by a leading developer team with experience building industry-leading NFT projects and onchain protocols. Co-founded and built by Cygaar, Beans, and Pablo, Frame’s unique technology prioritizes its community by ensuring that creators are properly protected and rewarded through a proprietary onchain royalty system. With this acquisition by Igloo, the innovative team behind Frame will leverage their extensive experience to help build for the next generation of crypto users. As the team’s first initiative, they will contribute to the Abstract network, which will provide a secure, ultra-fast, low-cost, and developer-friendly way for developers to build.
Cygaar from Frame commented, “We’re extremely excited to join forces with the Igloo team and contribute to building infrastructure that will power the next wave of consumer crypto applications. There is no other team in the space that I’d rather work with than the Igloo team. Together, we have the potential to truly onboard retail users to crypto for the first time.”
Igloo, Inc. was formed to create an end-to-end ecosystem for new people to come into crypto by pushing the boundaries of onchain experiences. Within Igloo, Inc., Pudgy Penguins operates as the brand at the top of the funnel introducing people to Web3. Pudgy Penguins has successfully bridged the gap between Web2 and Web3, with the Pudgy NFT collection maintaining its dominance as one of the top five collections across all NFT marketplaces. Additionally, Pudgy toys have sold out in record time at Walmart and Target, and the company recently partnered with Lotte. Another Igloo, Inc. project, OverpassIP, has allowed collectors to explore licensing opportunities for their Pudgy Penguins NFTs.
“Since inception, Igloo has remained steadfast in our commitment to creating a Web3 ecosystem that enables new ways for brands to interact directly with their consumer base,” said Luca Netz, Chief Executive Officer at Igloo, Inc. “Frame’s team has unmatched experience in building platforms that change the dynamic of how users interact with blockchain technology and how to easily merge both the real and digital worlds. By combining our successful history in creating onchain communities and unique cultures with the expertise of the Frame team, we are excited to contribute to the success of Abstract and its mission of building the world’s biggest onchain community, driving the consumer crypto revolution. In the next few months, Igloo plans on contributing to the development of an end-to-end user and builder experience.”
As the next steps following the acquisition, Cygaar and Beans will be leveraging their experience to contribute towards the highly anticipated consumer-focused blockchain called Abstract, a secure, ultra-fast, low-cost, and developer-friendly Ethereum L2 powered by zero-knowledge proofs, to lead the next generation of consumer crypto adoption. Abstract is set to create a new standard for culture-driven economies by leveraging new distribution rails, empowering builders, and introducing innovative economic mechanisms onchain. Abstract’s primary focus will be building the world’s biggest onchain community, driven by the culture economy.
The financial terms of this deal are not being disclosed.
