One of the meme coins of the moment, Peanuts the Squirrel (PNUT) has seen an astonishingly explosive growth, achieving a 1,351% increase in just one week.
Less than a month after its launch, the currency has left investors speechless, and its history, like its rise, has trending events behind it.
PNUT's meteoric rise has a history of outrage and support on social networks. Inspired by the story of Peanut, a squirrel that was taken from its home and euthanized by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), the pet has won the love of Internet users.
After his unexpected death, a cryptocurrency was created in his memory through Pump.fun, a platform dedicated to launching meme crypto on the Solana network.
Since then, PNUT has been seen as an expression of protest and affection for Peanut, gaining traction among investors and memecoin fans.
Let’s remember that memecoins are all digital currencies inspired by jokes, images, and famous internet memes.
PNUT's growth is amazing
The chart below shows the explosive growth of PNUT price:
PNUT prices since its launch.
The surge puts it in second place among the memecoins with the highest weekly gainers, according to CoinMarketCap, and boosts its market cap to a staggering $1.87 billion, putting it among the market’s top 100 cryptocurrencies for a record year.
Its all-time high of $2.47 was reached yesterday (November 13), showing the strength of the trend it is continuing to form.
One of the factors driving the currency's gains is the influence of Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO and Donald Trump adviser expressed strong dissatisfaction with the decision to sacrifice the squirrel, posting on the social platform X (formerly Twitter) he owns: "The government is a cold-blooded killing machine."
The comments resonated widely in the market, boosting the value of not only PNUT but other meme-based cryptocurrencies as well, especially after Donald Trump’s recent victory in the U.S. election.
The president-elect announced that he plans to push for a more open regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies once he takes office in January 2025, sparking optimism in the market and among investors in memecoins like PNUT.
Additionally, he plans to set up a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a direct reference to the meme-famous cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
The division will be led by Musk, who has been a staunch supporter of Dogecoin and is known to frequently promote the cryptocurrency through various channels.
For example, Dogecoin has a market capitalization of $58 billion. According to CriptoNoticias, Dogecoin has been the leader among meme coins, even surpassing the market capitalization of major automobile companies such as Volkswagen, BMW and Ford.
Binance added to PNUT
According to a company statement, this favorable environment has supported PNUT, which has been listed on Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, since November 11 last year. The application of PNUT's "seed tag" on the platform has further enhanced this momentum, highlighting the advantages of Solana memecoin and attracting the attention of new investors. Before Binance's announcement, PNUT's market value was approximately $128 million, but its market value has since increased nearly tenfold.
The exchange is aware of the importance of memecoins and has decided to add more listings of such assets. In fact, a report by CriptoNoticias states that the popularity of memecoins stems from their simplicity and close ties to internet culture. Memecoins are more accessible to retail investors than more technically complex cryptocurrencies, which has contributed to their success. If this trend continues, memecoins “are likely to continue to gain popularity and attract more attention in the cryptocurrency market,” Binance said.
Additionally, Solana Network platforms like Pump.fun make the creation of meme cryptocurrencies easy, which is key to their success. These platforms simplify the creation of memecoins, enabling any user to launch and sell their own cryptocurrency without advanced technical knowledge.
Alt Season Including Memecoin
The future outlook for memecoins appears quite optimistic. Analysts such as financial advisor Nicola Gallozzi predict that 2025 will usher in an “altcoin season,” during which major tokens tend to outperform Bitcoin. Gallozzi noted that Bitcoin’s dominance may be nearing its peak, creating an opportunity for rapid growth in altcoins and memecoins.
If the trend holds up, 2025 could be the year these riskier and less stable assets attract more investors seeking quick returns. As Morning, an analyst and investor with more than 100,000 followers on the social network X, puts it: “We’ve just seen a teaser of how things can move very quickly in a short period of time.”
This parabolic phenomenon, known in market jargon, indicates a sharp rise in a cryptocurrency over a short period of time, especially when it is able to attract the attention of a large audience.
The memecoin craze will continue, and the existence of the squirrel PNUT in the form of cryptocurrency looks set to become a hallmark of the end of 2024. With the support of influential figures and major trading platforms, memecoins are gradually becoming an asset class that, despite its volatility, has the potential to revolutionize the way retail investors interact with the cryptocurrency market.
