Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) Meme Coin’s Market Cap Surged to $130M Following Musk’s Post

PNUT, a Solana-based meme coin, has witnessed an astronomical surge in buying and selling exercise, with its market cap skyrocketing to over $120 million lower than three days after its launch.

The meme coin was impressed by Peanut the Squirrel, a social media-famous pet squirrel that was just lately confiscated and euthanized by the New York State Division of Environmental Safety for rabies testing.

Peanut the Squirrel grew to become an web sensation after its caretaker, Mark Longo, posted heartwarming photos and movies of the pet doing tips and sporting tiny hats on social media.

Nonetheless, on Oct. 30, Longo revealed that the authorities had taken away the pet squirrel. A meme coin dubbed PNUT was shortly created in its reminiscence.

Public Outrage Drives PNUT Surge

The information of Peanut the Squirrel’s euthanasia went viral, sparking public outrage. The incident attracted the eye of a number of public figures, together with Tesla’s Elon Musk and Congressman Nick Langworthy. Musk made a number of posts on X (previously Twitter), condemning the authorities’ actions. In a single post, he acknowledged,

The federal government shouldn’t have the correct to barge into your own home and kill your pet! This can be a mess. Even when it’s unlawful to maintain a squirrel as a pet, why kill Peanut as an alternative of releasing it into the wild?

Elon Musk’s social media posts and the broad media protection of the information spurred a PNUT shopping for spree, with a number of crypto whales coming into the market. In keeping with knowledge from Lookonchain, one whale spent 5,100 SOL to purchase roughly 8.99 million PNUT, price over $831,000.

PNUT’s market cap shortly rose to an all-time excessive of practically $130 million, with the buying and selling quantity surging to over $300 million as its worth hit a peak of $0.12. Nonetheless, profit-taking has since pulled the market cap to $58.6 million, with the token trading at $0.058 at press time.

Meme Coin Hunters Revenue

PNUT’s aggressive surge had benefited a number of meme coin merchants. Lookonchain famous that one dealer made a staggering $1.7 million revenue buying and selling PNUT.

Another merchants weren’t as profitable. One dealer missed the chance to make $1.6 million after promoting 19.1 million PNUT at a $1,099 loss.