Meme Coin 'Pineut' Soars Dozens of Times
"Squirrels and Meme Coins Saved America"
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, caused a massive ripple in the cryptocurrency market with a single post on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
On the 13th (local time) at 12:30 PM, the overseas cryptocurrency exchange 'Binance' saw the 'Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT)' coin surge 150.84% compared to the previous day, trading at $2.04 (approximately 2,870 KRW). This coin was newly listed three days earlier on the 11th, at which time it was only $0.1047 (about 147 KRW). It skyrocketed nearly 20 times.
Squirrel Peanut, euthanized by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The incident occurred during the presidential campaign period, making it a topic of discussion among Trump supporters at the time. Photo by AP Yonhap News
The surge in Peanut coin continued afterward. On the 14th, it entered the $2.3 (about 3,234 KRW) range in the morning, then slightly dropped to around $1.87 (about 2,630 KRW) by 9 PM that day.
The sudden price increase of Peanut coin started with a tweet from CEO Musk. The day before, he posted, "Squirrels and meme coins saved America," along with a peanut emoji.
Peanut is also the name of a squirrel recently euthanized by environmental authorities in New York State, USA. This squirrel was known to have been kept by a man for seven years, and New York authorities decided on euthanasia due to concerns about disease transmission.
When this news spread, some local netizens reacted with backlash. At that time, CEO Musk wrote on X, "The government went too far by kidnapping and executing the squirrel," and added, "President Trump will save the squirrel if elected." The Peanut coin is thus a type of meme coin listed to honor the squirrel Peanut.
Since the confirmation of Donald Trump's presidential election victory, the meme coin craze has intensified in the cryptocurrency market. 'Dogecoin,' which Musk once showed affection for, recorded a 24-hour trading volume of 4.5 trillion KRW on the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, and the newly listed 'Pepe Coin' surged 28% compared to the previous day.
Bitcoin, the representative cryptocurrency, also surpassed the $93,000 (about 130.79 million KRW) level amid expectations for Trump’s 'crypto-friendly' policies. President-elect Trump has proposed a policy to make Bitcoin a 'strategic national reserve asset.'
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