Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) Meme Coin Skyrockets to $130M Market Cap After Elon Musk Comments on Squirrel's Death

The surge came after Tesla CEO Elon Musk commented on the sudden passing of the popular squirrel, sparking a frenzy among traders.

Solana-based meme coin Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) has skyrocketed to a peak of $130 million in market capitalization within just three days, a remarkable surge for a coin that was virtually unknown at the start of the week.

The surge came after traders rushed to buy PNUT following the death of the popular squirrel, which sparked a wave of attention on social media after Tesla CEO Elon Musk commented on the incident.

Here’s a closer look at how it unfolded and what drove traders to buy the PNUT meme coin.

Elon Musk’s Reaction Fuels Massive Meme Coin Purchase

On Monday, Mark Longo, caretaker of Peanut the Squirrel, revealed in a post on the social media platform that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSD DEC) had confiscated Peanut, along with a Raccoon that Longo had nursed back to health.

However, further details later emerged that the squirrel had died while in the agency’s custody.

This development sparked outrage on social media, with Elon Musk himself highlighting the incident and criticizing the agency. A US Congressman had also initially pointed the finger at the NYSD DEC for its role in the squirrel’s death, in a post that has since been deleted.

“The government is a mindless and heartless killing machine,” Musk commented on the matter.

Moments after, meme coin traders, who are also known as “degenerates,” began to purchase the PNUT meme coin in droves. According to smart money platform GMGN, some of the first set of buyers put in thousands of dollars, which catalyzed the token’s upward movement.

PNUT Market Cap Rises, Falls Amid Profit-Taking

Following the widespread media coverage on Peanut the Squirrel’s death, whales began buying the meme coin in large volumes.

For instance, Lookonchain data shows that one whale sold 5,100 Solana tokens to acquire 8.99 million PNUT, which was valued at about $839,207 at the time of the purchase.

Around the same time, these whales were also buying First Convicted RACCON (FRED). As whales poured in, retail investors followed, creating a strong buying pressure that pushed PNUT’s market cap above $130 million.

Meanwhile, the massive buying pressure ensured that Peanut the Squirrel’s price hit a peak of $0.14. Trading volume around the Solana meme coin also surpassed $300 million at one point.

But PNUT’s market cap has since decreased to $93.98 million, according to Gecko Terminal. The price, on the other hand, has dropped to $0.094 due to profit-taking by early buyers of the meme coin.

Moreover, if PNUT’s price were to rebound, it could surpass that of Moo Deng (MOODENG), another animal-themed meme coin whose market cap is around $151 million at the time of this writing.