Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) — Cryptocurrency Based on Euthanized Squirrel — Becomes Latest Memecoin to Attract Mindshare

Created through Solana-based memecoin incubator Pump.Fun four days ago, PNUT's market cap climbed to a high of $135.5 million early Sunday

A cryptocurrency inspired by Peanut the Squirrel, a domesticated squirrel that was euthanized in New York state, has become the latest memecoin to gain popularity within the crypto community.

Created four days ago by Solana-based memecoin incubator Pump.Fun, PNUT’s market cap reached a peak of $135.5 million early Sunday, before dropping nearly 70% to $44.1 million at press time, according to trading platform Dex Tools, with the token changing hands for over 4 cents.

Several “smart money” wallets that acquired the token on the first day of launch have since decreased their exposure to the squirrel-based memecoin, according to blockchain analytics firm Nansen, which identifies smart money wallets as having substantial onchain profitability records.

In the last 24 hours, these addresses had a netflow (inflows minus outflows) of nearly $339,000 worth of PNUT — a sign of traders taking profits as some have used exchange aggregator Jupiter to swap the token for wrapped SOL (WSOL), such as MICHI memecoin whale (FkZwr) having a netflow of -$203,109 in the time period.

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Indicated by the substantial trading activity of PNUT, which has a 24-hour volume of $106.4 million on Solana exchange Raydium, the most among all liquidity pools, the squirrel has become an internet sensation, even attracting the attention of candidates running for the 2024 U.S. presidency.

On Oct. 30, the New York Department of Environment Conservation seized Peanut, a squirrel who was often pictured wearing a hat and became a social media sensation after it was injured and then rescued and cared for as a pet. On Sunday, Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, said in a rally in Sanford, North Carolina that Republican nominee Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., is “fired up about Peanut the Squirrel.”

TRUMP STORMING CAPITOL WITH PEANUT AS PLAN B pic.twitter.com/fg5ffWsZkK

— beeple (@beeple) November 4, 2024

Billionaire memecoin and rocket enthusiast Elon Musk, who has backed Trump in the 2024 presidential election, also used the squirrel as a rallying cry. On Sunday evening, Musk tweeted, “Vote For PNut! For Liberty! For Freedom!”