Pudgy Penguins
PENGU#87PENGU is the community token of the Pudgy Penguins NFT brand, a Solana-first meme token with no ownership or voting rights.
- Market cap
- $564.81M
- Volume 24h
- $262.49M
- All-time high
- —
- Circulating supply
- 62.86B of 88.89B
Does not clear all 8 Shariah criteria. Needs caution: nature of the asset, gambling (maysir), excessive uncertainty (gharar), and usage.
- 4 pass
- 4 caution
- 0 fail
Verdict history
- DoubtfulCurrent
First publication
Fundamentals, market picture and news will appear here.
Halal analysis
Can a Muslim hold Pudgy Penguins?8 Shariah criteria
4 pass · 4 caution · 0 failPENGU pays holders nothing: its white paper calls it non-interest-bearing, with no staking or reward function.
Riba means interest or any guaranteed increase on a loan. The MiCA white paper describes PENGU as fungible, non-redeemable and non-interest-bearing, with no dividends and no native validator or miner incentives, so holding it produces no return. The Pengu Validator the project promotes stakes SOL, not PENGU. Sharlife, the authoritative source, rates PENGU Grey without public reasons; CryptoUmmah notes interest-based lending of PENGU on third-party platforms, which is covered under trading mechanisms, not the asset itself. The criterion is at the maximum.
PENGU is a brand and community token with no rights or claims; its uses are limited partner payments and reward programmes.
This criterion asks whether the asset has real value (mal). PENGU is backed by a real brand, but the token gives no ownership, dividend or voting rights and no claim on Igloo Inc or the issuer. Its white paper calls it a cultural and community symbol rather than a financial instrument and says it does not meet MiCA's definition of a utility token. Its uses (some partner payments, Miles & More integration, community access) are real but small. Sharlife rates PENGU Grey (doubtful); the thin, mostly symbolic utility is the coin-specific reason for caution.
PENGU is a meme-style brand token whose value rests largely on attention and speculation; about 84% of its exchange volume is futures.
Maysir is gambling: gain or loss by chance rather than productive exchange. PENGU's own site calls it a symbol for community, memes and good vibes, and its price fell from $0.068 at launch to under $0.01. On 1 October 2026 perpetual futures made up about 84% of combined spot and perpetual volume on Binance and Bybit. CryptoUmmah scores maysir at 35/100. The brand's real business and the token's partner uses keep it at caution rather than fail. Sharlife's Grey rating is consistent with this caution.
The issuer has no revenue from the token, and the brand earns from toys, licensing and media; no impermissible income is shown.
This criterion asks how the issuer or project earns and whether any of that income is impermissible. The token issuer, Simple Action Limited, says it has limited operations and no employees and pays its costs from PENGU allocated to operations. The wider Pudgy Penguins business under Igloo Inc earns from toys, licensing and media. No source shows interest, gambling or other prohibited revenue, so the criterion is at the maximum. Insider allocations are assessed under gharar.
About 29% of the launch supply went to the team and the company and is still vesting; the issuer is a BVI shell with no employees, and no token audit was done.
Gharar is excessive uncertainty or hidden information. The allocation and vesting terms were published, and the Solana mint can no longer create or freeze tokens. But 17.8% (team) and 11.48% (company) of the launch supply unlock gradually until about December 2027, and the issuer reported about 8.27 billion PENGU retained in October 2025. The issuer is a British Virgin Islands company with no employees, the treasury composition is not disclosed, and the white paper says no audit was carried out.
These are concrete transparency gaps, so the criterion is at caution; Sharlife's Grey rating points the same way.
PENGU has some partner payment and loyalty uses, but in practice it is used mostly for speculative trading, largely through futures.
This criterion looks at what the asset is actually used for. The white paper lists real but limited uses: payments with some partners, partner reward programmes such as Lufthansa’s Miles & More, and access to community experiences. Trading dominates: on 1 October 2026 about 84% of combined spot and perpetual volume on Binance and Bybit was perpetual futures, which is always impermissible. Because a permissible use exists alongside the speculation, the criterion is at caution, not fail.
Fully paid spot PENGU is available on major exchanges, including a MiCA-notified EU venue, and it can be held in self-custody.
This criterion asks whether the asset can be owned in a permissible way. PENGU trades spot, with full payment and delivery, on large centralised exchanges and on decentralised exchanges on several chains, and it can be withdrawn to a self-custody wallet. The Solana mint has no freeze authority. Ownership does not depend on derivatives or leverage, even though those dominate volume, so the criterion is at the maximum.
PENGU supports a consumer brand and community with toys, media and partner programmes; no concrete harm specific to the token is shown.
Maslahah weighs public benefit against harm. The Pudgy Penguins brand produces toys, media and partner programmes, and the token is part of its community. No source shows fraud, sanctions evasion or another concrete harm specific to PENGU; speculative losses are counted under maysir, not again here. With no concrete harm shown, the criterion is at the maximum.
How you can use it
Tap a card for the ruling and sourcesBuying PENGU with full payment and immediate delivery is available on major exchanges and decentralised exchanges, and the tokens can be moved to a self-custody wallet. Spot is acceptable for a DOUBTFUL asset for those who follow the permissive view, but speculation and insider vesting remain concerns.
Not available: no fund holding PENGU had launched by 1 October 2026. Canary PENGU ETF filed with the SEC on 20 March 2025. A fund holding PENGU itself would be judged like spot, and its structure would need checking.
Some partner businesses accept PENGU, but it is not widely used as a means of payment. Tier-1 bodies such as Indonesia’s MUI rule that using cryptocurrency as currency is not permissible.
Not available natively: PENGU has no staking function and no validation work. The Pengu Validator promoted by the project stakes SOL, not PENGU. Products marketed as PENGU staking or earn get their return from elsewhere, usually lending, and must be checked.
Margin trading in PENGU is offered but is never acceptable: it is a deferred exchange with borrowed money and leverage (AAOIFI SS 20).
PENGU perpetual futures made up about 84% of its spot and perpetual volume on Binance and Bybit on 1 October 2026, but futures, perpetuals and options always fail under AAOIFI SS 20: deferred exchange without delivery, usually with leverage.
Lending PENGU through exchange or DeFi lending programmes pays depositors interest from borrowers. This is riba.
PENGU pays holders nothing and has no network work to reward. Yield products on PENGU get their return from lending or similar sources, and fail.
Scholars quotes
Penggunaan cryptocurrency sebagai mata uang hukumnya haram, karena mengandung gharar (ketidakjelasan), dharar (bahaya) dan bertentangan dengan Undang-Undang nomor 7 tahun 2011 tentang Mata Uang dan Peraturan Bank Indonesia nomor 17 tahun 2015 tentang Kewajiban Penggunaan Rupiah di Wilayah Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia.Sebagaimana mata wang yang lain, mata wang digital hendaklah tidak digunakan sebagai bayaran kepada barangan, perkhidmatan dan aktiviti tidak patuh Syariah seperti pembelian dadah, pelacuran, perjudian dan pendanaan aktiviti keganasan serta penggubahan wang haram.The SAC has also resolved that investment and trading of Digital Assets that fulfil the above requirements and which are traded on Digital Asset Exchange (DAX) registered with SC are permissible.Third: In light of the above and given the significant risks associated with this type of currencies and the instability of their transactions, the Council of the Academy recommends pursuing research and studies on issues affecting its ruling.Bitcoin is a digital currency that does not meet the legal and Sharia criteria that make it a currency subject to the rulings of dealing with official legal currencies recognized internationally.بناءً على ذلك: فلا يجوز شرعًا تداول عملة "البتكوين" والتعامل من خلالها بالبيعِ والشراءِ والإجارةِ وغيرها، بل يُمنع من الاشتراكِ فيها؛ لعدمِ اعتبارِها كوسيطٍ مقبولٍ للتبادلِ من الجهاتِ المخُتصَّةِ، ولِمَا تشتمل عليه من الضررِ الناشئ عن الغررِ والجهالةِ والغشِّ في مَصْرِفها ومِعْيارها وقِيمتها، فضلًا عما تؤدي إليه ممارستُها من مخاطرَ عاليةٍ على الأفراد والدول.According to research and opinion of experts so far, cryptocurrency is not considered ‘ maal ’ (wealth) in Sharia.Muhammadiyah memandang transaksi dan investasi kripto pada dasarnya mubah (boleh) tetapi dengan syarat tertentu.The opinion on this is the same as doing the same with any halal assets such as shares – 1) is permissible, 2) is more debatable and there are differing opinions on short-term trading.Our current position is 'tawaquf'; we can't say it is halal or haram, but we say it is better not to engage in itAs I mentioned at the beginning of this article it is not necessary to substantiate the permissibility of something as long as there are no prohibited factors involved in it or surrounding it.AI-assisted analysis checked against sources. Not a fatwa or investment advice.
Where it trades
Section in preparation
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