Solana Meme Coin Ponke Releases Plush Toy as First in Line of Collectibles

Popular Solana meme coin Ponke is set to launch a plush toy based on its monkey mascot on Wednesday—the first of a series of product releases scheduled for this year.

The adult toy will feature an NFC chip that grants rewards and validates proof of ownership, a removable helmet, a magnetic blunt, and magnets in its hands and feet.

It comes as part of the meme coin’s partnership with 223, a spinout venture of licensed accessories giant JCorp, which was penned in May. While this initial launch is solely based on the monkey mascot, the team behind the meme coin confirmed to Decrypt that it has products with “two big brand partners” ready to go live by the end of the year.

The Ponke plush toy will go on sale on the 223 site on Wednesday at 1pm ET to the general public. It will go on sale an hour earlier for members of the token-gated Club Ponke chat, owners of the Ponke day-one Telegram sticker pack, and mailing list subscribers. The toy will cost $69 and will have a limited supply, although the team could not provide an exact number.

Following an online sale, the project will be gearing up for distribution in a retail store later this year.

Ponke is the 69th largest meme coin by market capitalization, per CoinGecko. The project produces regular original content that has gone viral on Instagram and TikTok, which its team claims has amassed more than 2 billion views across platforms. 

The plush toy is “so fun to engage with and so funny because of the interactive elements; because of the removable helmet, removable blunt, magnetic hands and feet,” a Ponke representative told Decrypt. “You can do all kinds of things with the character, with that magnetic connectivity. You can connect Ponke to your fridge, you can connect him to your car. You can create unique poses or hang them from a bag like a Labubu.”

It will also feature an NFC chip, which can be scanned by a mobile phone to claim an NFT that proves ownership of the collectible. Each plush will also come with a raffle ticket on Looty.fi, a crypto loot box site that is partnered with Ponke. Purchasers will also be granted early access to future Ponke collectible sales.

Ponke and “digitally-native meme IPs”

Shortly after partnering with 223, Ponke attended the Las Vegas Licensing Expo alongside other JCorp global IPs. A Ponke representative told Decrypt that the monkey mascot was a hit among those in attendance, claiming “future partnerships” were secured during the event.

“We see Ponke as part of a new generation of digitally-native meme IPs primed to leap from online culture into physical retail,” said Cole Gurman, president of 223, said in a release. “The strength of Ponke’s community, brand identity, memes, and cultural energy make it an ideal candidate for breakout success, and this drop is just the beginning.”

The monkey mascot’s next product is likely to be a blind box collectible in partnership with an irreverent streetwear brand, aiming to hit the market in the coming months. A cannabis product partnership is also in the works, and very close to coming to fruition. 

It’s worth noting that Ponke’s collectibles business will not be feeding its profits back into the meme coin, as the representative told Decrypt it is currently reinvesting revenue straight back into the merchandising venture in an attempt to grow the brand.

That said, a Ponke representative did confirm that the project is currently exploring “ways to provide rewards and benefits” to stakers at its Solana validator and plush holders.