Peanut the Squirrel’s Tragic Story Sends PNUT Memecoin Soaring to $140M

• Memecoin creators often capitalize on odd, bizarre, and sometimes tragic real-world events.
• Solana-based Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) memecoin hit a market cap of over $140 million.
• A New York Congressman has demanded answers over the seizure and euthanization of Peanut the Squirrel and Fred the Raccoon.

The death of a viral Internet animal, ‘”Peanut the Squirrel,” has triggered the launch of memecoins that briefly spiraled upward to absurd market capitalizations following social media posts from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Peanut the Squirrel

Peanut was rescued by Mark Longo after seeing Peanut’s mother be killed by a car.

After trying to release the squirrel back into the wild, Peanut returned to Longo, this time injured. Longo took it upon himself to bring the squirrel back to health. Eventually, Peanut the Squirrel became an internet sensation with over 600,000 followers.

Off the back of his success, they operated a non-profit animal rescue shelter called “Peanut’s Freedom Farm,” which hosts 300 animals.

Some have gone as far as to position it as a political issue ahead of the U.S. 2024 elections.

On Oct. 30, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) confiscated Peanut due to public health concerns. Squirrels can potentially carry and transmit rabies, and in New York, residents need a special permit to own a wild animal.

Sadly, Peanut was then euthanized by New York authorities after the confiscation. Posting to Instagram, Longo wrote:

“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.”

Mark Longo’s pet raccoon, Fred, was also seized and euthanized. The story has swept national headlines as an unjust and awful end to the life of two pets, especially ones that brought a great deal of joy to people.

Many, including New York Congressman Nick Langworthy, see this as a tyrannical overstep of authority by the government.

Then came the memecoins.

Peanut (PNUT) Memecoin

Several Solana-based (SOL) memecoins were then created to capitalize on the moment.

Notably, Peanut the Squirrel (Pnut ), launched on Nov. 1, 2024, quickly rose to prominence.

This followed a Nov. 2 post to X from Elon Musk, which then exploded the token from a market cap of roughly $3 million to $140 million in less than 24 hours.

This has since plummeted. After peaking at around $0.14 and a market cap of $140 million, the Pnut token is now trading at $0.04 and has a dwindling market cap of $48.6 million.

Similarly, meme coin creators sought to capitalize on the death of Longo’s raccoon, Fred and created the First Convicted Raccoon (FRED ) token. However, it glanced at a market cap of roughly $4.8 million before tumbling to its current cap of $119,420.