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Budding cryptocurrency traders are betting millions of dollars on new joke – or meme – crypto coins, all based around recently euthanized internet-famous squirrel, Peanut.
The coins are being generated on Pump.fun, a website that allows registered users to create and run their own cryptocurrency. It works by piggybacking off the back of the popular currency Solana.
The market cap for Pnut—the site’s leading coin—is currently hovering around $45 million. Another, dubbed Peanut, is at the $312K mark, however, as Pump.fun allows users to create their own, there are currently dozens of Peanut-themed coins being bet on.
Pump.fun is riddled with in-jokes and memes, with some featuring viral baby hippo, Moo Deng. The pygmy hippo-themed coin has nearly 40,000 holders. Of course, the memes don’t stop there, as Pump.fun will move the coin to the Raydium exchange once it hits a $69,000 market cap.
I feel so sorry for this guy. The government came and took his squirrel “Peanut”, which he’s owned for 7 years, and another pet raccoon and euthanized them both, for no apparent reason.
“Peanut” was the mascot for his animal non-profit and had a social media following of over a… pic.twitter.com/5EfoOKqelE
— 🇺🇸↪️aptain Ⓜ️organ🇺🇸 (@CaptainMorganTN) November 2, 2024
Peanut the Squirrel drives millions in crypto bets as meme coins take off
Peanut was popular on Instagram, with the BBC reporting that the account had around 500,000 followers before New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) took him. Since the original reports, the account has climbed past 750K followers.
The owner, Mark Longo, was reported due to concerns about an unsafe environment for the animals, including a raccoon, Fred. Peanut and Fred were euthanized to test for rabies after an investigator involved with taking the animals away was bitten.
Longo is running a GoFundMe, which currently stands at $193,950, with a target of $250,000. Originally it was set up for legal funds, but now appears to be focused on donating to a non-profit organization, P’Nuts Freed Farm Animal Sanctuary.
A top donation of $6800 directly references a Peanut-themed coin as its source and another at $4000 stems from the FREEDOM coin.
Elon Musk has been posting to X about Peanut, with his recent appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast encouraging viewers to vote “for Peanut”. A supposed statement by Donald Trump was debunked by TMZ, which potentially drove users to place their money on the meme coins.
ELON MUSK: “Go out there and vote… for Peanut… How can it be that we live in America, supposedly land of the free and the government can barge into your home with guns?” pic.twitter.com/1b8mT2pJhY
— America (@america) November 5, 2024
Comments on the Pnut coin make references to the current Republican candidate. Others are now poking fun at Longo’s OnlyFans career, which he has had to deny using the animals to promote.
