Recap · July 31, 2025 · 27:39
Wale: Making $500k from Tweeting, NFTs in 2025, and More | TG Podcast
The Signal
Wale joins Threadguy as NFT floors recover, but argues that this is a selective revival rather than a return to 2021's broad mint mania. His case is for the small group of established collections that kept building through the downturn, alongside a pragmatic view of how newer chains and SocialFi rewards can create opportunity without becoming a whole identity.
Key Takeaways
- 01
A selective NFT recovery
Wale points to Pudgy Penguins rising from about $20,000 to $60,000, Moonbirds moving from roughly $600 to $6,000 after its leadership change, and recent Fidenza sales. He expects established collections, rather than a broad new-mint boom, to lead because there are fewer than 20 OG-era projects he considers relevant.
- 02
New-chain mints need real community
Bad Buns on MegaETH, Hypio on Hyperliquid, and several Abstract runners show that NFTs can work on newer ecosystems. But once one mint succeeds, imitators quickly arrive; Wale says that diminishing-return dynamic usually favors the established names.
- 03
Hold conviction; do not force daily flips
He sees a case for holding teams and collections people genuinely believe in, including Pudgy Penguins and CryptoPunks, but not for treating the current market like the day-trading environment of 2022.
- 04
A niche built Wale's account
NFT focus cost him some of the upside from the memecoin cycle, but gave him a recognizable lane, founder access, and an audience that knew what he covered. He made selected bets in the broader market without becoming a full-time trench trader.
- 05
SocialFi is useful but imperfect
Wale says incentive programs can distort timelines and hurt creators who chase them too hard, while still opening monetization to smaller accounts. Across Kaido and related drops, he estimates earning $500,000 to $600,000, though he notes that the system does not accurately capture streaming.
On the Record
“I think it will be like the established collections — the Pudgy Penguins, the Bored Apes, the Azukis of the space — that will probably do well because I don't see a broad bull market coming in the short term similar to what we saw in 2021 and 2022.”
“I don't think it's like the market to flip on the daily that we had back in 2022. Obviously not. I think there is a lot of potential in holding the projects you believe in.”
“For the majority, especially for new accounts, for small accounts, it's the first time they can really monetize. Now you can make money with content with as little as 1,000 followers.”
“Okay, that's a tough question. I think I will say two things. So, I still think we have a few months of Infoi Frenzy left.”
The Breakdown
A bounce, not the old market
Threadguy brings Wale back just as NFT volume and floors are moving again. Wale says the recovery is visible even in crypto terms, citing Pudgy Penguins' move from around $20,000 to $60,000 that month, Moonbirds' tenfold dollar rise from about $600 to $6,000, and a Fidenza jump after a handful of sales. But he has changed his earlier view that hype mints would have to return first.
The few collections that kept building
His working thesis is concentration: the established collections with real communities and IP work behind them can make new highs, even if the category does not recreate the broad 2021–22 bull market. Threadguy compares the setup to legacy onchain coins attracting attention while most fresh launches lag. Wale puts Pudgy Penguins, Bored Apes, and Azukis in that durable group, and stresses how small the remaining set of relevant OG collections is.
What a new-chain mint needs
They do see live experimentation: Bad Buns on MegaETH, Hypio on Hyperliquid, and projects on Abstract. For Wale, the key is an ecosystem actually adopting the collection — Hyperliquid users changing their profile pictures to Hypio is his example. PFPs can still give a new chain a focal point for community, but a winner also draws ten follow-ons the next week. That is why he expects diminishing returns for copycats.
The trade that worked, and the FOMO that did not
Wale's highest percentage NFT trade was four HypeBeast mints with his brother: less than one ETH of mint cost became about 40 ETH when floors immediately reached nine to ten ETH. His cautionary counterexample is Moonbirds. He minted and sold on day one, then bought back on secondary as it ran from about 10 ETH to 40 ETH — a FOMO decision he says contradicted his usual rule.
Why Wale stayed in NFTs
When attention shifted to memecoins in 2024, he did make some conviction bets in Mog, AI coins, Goat, and SEI, but says he was never in the daily trading circles deeply enough to capture the full move. The NFT lane nevertheless gave his account a clear identity and connected him to top founders. He frames the trade-off as missed financial upside in exchange for a brand built around a smaller, recognizable specialty.
A qualified defense of InfoFi
Threadguy dislikes Kaido-style incentives because they can reward low-quality posting and elevate accounts he does not view as meaningful. Wale agrees that creators who make InfoFi their whole personality may regret it, but says the upside is real for small accounts that previously had little way to monetize. He estimates $170,000 from one Kaido allocation, roughly $70,000 in vote selling, and additional airdrops that brought his total into the $500,000–$600,000 range.
Where he sees the next window
For the following months, Wale names two areas: more large InfoFi drops, after Boop, and a concentrated basket of five to ten serious NFT projects through year-end. It is deliberately not a call to chase every mint or day-trade every floor. He closes on the narrower claim that teams which kept building through the lean years may have limited downside relative to the market's more speculative edges.
Distilled from the episode transcript · Counterparty Recap Desk
