Peanut The Squirrel (PNUT) Coin Inspired by Viral Pet Squirrel's Death Becomes Latest Meme Coin Sensation

Peanut The Squirrel (PNUT) has become the latest sensation in the meme coin world, quickly climbing to a price near $2 in just a few weeks.

A new meme coin, inspired by a pet squirrel named Peanut, has surged past Dogecoin in the last seven days, becoming the second-most traded cryptocurrency after Bitcoin.

Created in early November, Peanut The Squirrel (PNUT) is named after the squirrel that was euthanized by a US government agency ahead of the presidential elections, sparking outrage and attention from celebrities like Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

The token, which began trading at $0.00000007 on November 4, surged by more than 290,000% to reach a price of $1.91 on Monday. It has since corrected slightly, trading at $1.68 on Tuesday morning.

With a seven-day price surge of 14,870%, PNUT has outpaced meme coin giant Dogecoin, which is up by 105% in the last seven days and ranks 10th with a market cap of $24 billion.

The last time a meme coin topped Dogecoin in the seven-day rankings was in May 2023, when Shiba Inu coin surged by 340% in a week to become the second-most traded crypto after Bitcoin.

The last meme coin to be valued higher than Dogecoin overall was Dogecoin itself, which had a market cap of $40 billion at one point in 2023, compared to Dogecoin’s peak market cap of $95 billion.

PNUT, which is also inspired by the "nutcoin" meme that went viral earlier this year, began surging after being listed on the HTX exchange on November 12.

According to HTX, PNUT saw its first major trading activity on the exchange on Saturday evening, with trading volumes quickly surging past those of Bitcoin and Dogecoin. By Monday morning, the 24-hour trading volume for PNUT had reached a high of $1.6 billion.

The token's price also surged rapidly in response to the high trading volumes, rising from $0.0004 on Saturday evening to a peak of $1.91 on Monday morning.

The last cryptocurrency to be valued higher than Dogecoin overall was XRP, which had a market cap of $100 billion at one point in 2018, compared to Dogecoin’s peak market cap of $95 billion.