The sudden surge in popularity of 'Peanut the Squirrel' has led to the emergence of memecoins in the Solana decentralized finance (DeFi) markets, with some tokens exceeding a market capitalization of $120 million. Mark Longo, the owner of Peanut's social media account, revealed that the squirrel and a raccoon named 'Fred' were confiscated and euthanized by New York's Department of Environmental Conservation due to alleged unsafe housing. Longo, who rescued Peanut seven years ago, nursed him back to health after an injury. The incident sparked outrage, with Elon Musk criticizing the government's actions. Memecoin creators capitalized on Peanut's popularity by launching meme-based tokens on Solana, some of which have reached the top 10 in DeFi data tracker Dexscreener's charts. Tokens like 'Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT)' and 'First Convicted Raccoon (FRED)' have seen significant trading volumes and market capitalizations on Solana and BNB Smart Chain. Read more AI-generated news on: https://app.chaingpt.org/news