Pnut: The Memecoin Inspired by the Euthanized Pet Squirrel Peanut

Pnut, one of crypto’s hottest memecoins, was inspired by the internet sensation Peanut, a pet squirrel who was euthanized by New York officials.

The recent decision by New York officials to euthanize Peanut, a beloved pet squirrel, has sparked a lot of debate on social media. Some people are seeing it as an example of government overreach, while others are viewing it as a necessary public health intervention.

Peanut's social media account is owned by Mark Longo, who posted about the incident on X (formerly Twitter). According to Longo, Peanut was taken by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation after complaints about his housing being unsafe.

Longo's post reads, "Well internet, you WON. You took one of the most amazing animals away from me because of your selfishness. To the group of people who called DEC, there's a special place in hell for you."

The decision to euthanize Peanut has also caught the attention of some high-profile figures, including Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. Musk, a known Trump supporter, commented on the incident, saying, "Government overreach kidnapped an orphan squirrel and executed him."

Trump Jr. also joined in on the discussion, referring to Peanut as the "Elon Musk of squirrels" and adding that the Democrats "killed the rodent."

Interestingly, the X account that is linked to the Pnut memecoin also appears to be getting involved in the political discourse. The profile has been observed supporting and retweeting conservative rhetoric.

Pnut's role in the meme supercycle

Pnut has had one of the most impressive memecoin runs in this cycle, hitting a market capitalization of over $120 million and trade volume exceeding $307 million.

Several traders have profited handsomely from Pnut's meteoric rise. On-chain tools show that one trader managed to net around $1.77 million by trading Pnut over two days.

However, as in any market, there are winners and losers. Not everyone who purchased Pnut has made millions of dollars.

One trader who bought around 19 million Pnut tokens for $1882 liquidated their position at a loss, selling the tokens for $1099, thinking the trade was not going well.

In a twist of irony, the tokens that were sold by this trader are now worth about $1.6 million, highlighting the classic case of "selling too early."

Pnut's success has also spawned several copycat meme tokens attempting to capitalize on the hype. A quick search on the DeFi data tracker Dexscreener reveals multiple peanut-themed meme tokens.

At the time of writing, one of the copycat tokens is ranked number 2 on Dexscreener.

Pnut's story is just another example of the hype and low barrier to entry into the memecoin market, where traders are continuously drawn to the possibility of overnight wealth, often disregarding the high risk associated with this volatile asset class.

Memecoins continue to defy logic

Memecoins are a highly volatile class of cryptocurrencies that are themed around memes, animals, inside jokes, or other humorous topics. The concept began with Dogecoin, which was created in 2013 as a parody of Bitcoin and later became popularized by Elon Musk.

Since then, meme tokens have relied on having strong fanbases, virality, or celebrity endorsements to generate massive price movements.

The meme coin market has a capitalization of about $54 billion, which is dominated by projects like Shiba Inu, Dogecoin, Pepe, and dogwifhat.

While BTC and other “strong” altcoins endured bad weekends, a random memecoin is having the time of its life.

Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH, memecoins typically lack strong fundamentals. They also have a low barrier of entry, which when combined with volatility, attracts investors seeking quick gains.

FOMO (fear of missing out) also often leads meme traders to lose fortunes to coordinated pump-and-dump schemes where the hype drives prices up before a massive sell-off.