Behind the Labubu Wave: The Rise and Fall from Toy IP to Encryption Coin

The Labubu series of toys under Pop Mart has sparked a frenzy in 2024, driving the company's stock price up more than 200%, with a market value exceeding 350 billion HKD. By the end of last year, the company had 401 stores in mainland China and 130 overseas stores distributed in more than 30 countries and regions, with overseas revenue accounting for over 38%. However, the related cryptocurrency LABUBU has failed to maintain this glory, with its market value now falling to 27.89 million USD, a decline of 20.4% within 24 hours.

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The Origin and Development of Labubu

Labubu is a uniquely shaped sprite character toy, characterized by its rounded plush body, big eyes, and a mischievous smile with nine sharp teeth. This image was created by Chinese artist Long Jiasheng, inspired by Norse mythology. Labubu first debuted in 2015 and quickly became popular after a collaboration with Pop Mart in 2019.

In the first half of 2024, the "The Monsters" series belonging to Labubu generated a sales revenue of 6.3 billion RMB for Pop Mart. In April 2025, the third generation of Labubu products sparked a buying frenzy in multiple locations worldwide. In May of the same year, LABUBU encryption currency was launched, but soon fell into price fluctuations. In June, a Labubu art auction had a total transaction amount of 3.73 million RMB, with one piece selling for 1.08 million RMB.

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Reasons for Labubu's Popularity

1. Blind Box Sales Model: This purchasing method full of unknowns increases consumers' desire to buy, driving up prices in the secondary market.

2. Excellent Cultural Creative IP: Labubu has successfully crossed cultural boundaries, being popular in both Asia and the West.

3. Industry Chain Support: China's完善的产业链和成熟的生态系统为Labubu的生产和推广提供了有力支持。

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The Harsh Reality of the Cryptocurrency Market

Despite the continued popularity of Labubu toys, the related encryption currency LABUBU has struggled to gain traction in the market. Similar situations have occurred with other well-known IPs:

• Pudgy Penguins ( Fat Penguins ) NFT fell from a high price of 34.8 ETH to 8.9 ETH, and its encryption currency PENGU also fell from $0.0428 to $0.009369.

• Bored Ape (BAYC) NFT fell from a peak of 153.7ETH to 11.55ETH.

• CryptoPunks fell from a high of 125 ETH to 41 ETH.

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These cases demonstrate that even with physical products supporting them, the value of encryption assets can still be significantly affected by market sentiment and fluctuate greatly. For cryptocurrencies like LABUBU, which mainly rely on the popularity of physical toys, its value is likely to evaporate quickly once market enthusiasm wanes.

This phenomenon reflects the speculative nature of the cryptocurrency market. Assets without practical applications and value support may appreciate due to hype in the short term, but in the long run, they will inevitably face the fate of value regression. The experience of LABUBU once again proves that in the field of cryptocurrency, the prosperity of speculative assets is often short-lived, while projects that can truly create value sustainably are the ones that can establish themselves in the market.