Dogecoin Disciples Take Off as PNUT, FRED Meme Coins Skyrocket

Dogecoin—the original meme coin based on a late, internet-famous dog—has been soaring over the past week. With this success, yet another fresh pack of Doge disciples has emerged and started to run up enormous gains themselves. They’re not all dog-themed coins, either.

Peanut the Squirrel is another real pet animal that also tragically died, as it was seized and euthanized by New York state authorities earlier this month citing rabies concerns. This story went viral with Elon Musk jumping on the story, making multiple posts on Twitter about the pet squirrel and getting it wrapped up in the election news cycle.

As such, a Solana meme coin called PNUT has taken off, getting listed by exchange Binance on Monday and soaring past a $1.5 billion market cap as a result. Over the past seven days, the token has skyrocketed by 1,524% to a current price of $1.65, according to CoinGecko.

Alongside this, a pet raccoon called Fred—who lived in the same home as Peanut—was also seized and euthanized by New York also due to rabies concerns. On Tuesday, state officials confirmed that both Peanut and Fred did not ultimately have rabies.

Outraged by the news that both pet animals were killed without valid reason, a Solana meme coin called First Convicted Raccon (FRED)—yes, with the misspelling of “Racoon”—has leaped 383% over the past 24 hours—tipping a market cap of $129 million.

It’s not just these three deceased animals that the crypto community has rallied behind. Harambe on Solana (HARAMBE) is also up 92% over the past week, while classic internet meme Keyboard Cat on Ethereum layer-2 network Base (KEYCAT) has jumped 128%.

Other famous real-world animals have seen gains too, with viral pygmy hippopotamus Moo Deng (MOODENG) climbing 96% and Neiro (NEIRO) up 39% over the past 7 days. 

Meanwhile in the trenches, two tokens are battling it out over Jorgie Boy, a pet monkey that was seized by the police in Dallas. As reported by the Dallas Morning News, the monkey was taken away from his owner Brandi Botello, an Instagram influencer, following a car crash in which the driver faces charges of driving while intoxicated (DWI). 

At the time of writing, two Jorgie-inspired tokens sit at respective market caps of $4 million and $12 million, both dedicated to Jorgie and claiming to be fighting for his freedom.

Edited by Andrew Hayward