This article was written on November 12th but, due to procrastination by the author, was finally published today after revisions.

During this Meme cycle, countless people went crazy for memecoins. Yesterday (November 11th), Binance listed the spot trading pairs $PNUT and $ACT, with both skyrocketing within the day by 330% and 1440%, respectively. $ACT, the debut AI meme spot, received such treatment on its listing that even its big brother $GOAT did not, as $GOAT only had a contract deployed. $PNUT, as a squirrel-type meme, seemingly similar to other "cat and dog" meme coins, even had a slightly higher market cap of 5 billion compared to the simultaneous listing of $ACT. To most, it appeared that $ACT offered better value than the seemingly ordinary $PNUT squirrel. However, the reality was different.

Origin: The Beginning of the Story

The squirrel depiction of PNUT originates from a squirrel named "Peanut" adopted by an engineer named Mark seven years ago. Mark frequently shared interaction videos between him and Peanut on Instagram, gradually amassing hundreds of thousands of fans.

However, nearby residents complained to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) that Peanut was carrying a contagious disease. Surprisingly, without a search warrant, the DEC raided Mark Longo's home and took Peanut away. Subsequently, Mark Longo initiated a petition on social media with tens of thousands of fans signing. Unfortunately, Peanut was ultimately euthanized by the DEC.

Following Peanut's euthanasia, Dogecoin criticized the Democratic Party in a post, and Musk mourned Pnut in a post, claiming that Trump's presidency would have saved Peanut.

This Peanut incident gradually evolved into a protest movement against the Democratic Party. Simultaneously, a large number of Peanut derivatives started emerging on the internet, such as "squirrels wearing MAGA hats in rebellion." From then on, the animal image represented by Peanut not only remained a meme, but also started to overlay with a political undertone linked to "Trump."

The Perfect Political Distance

As the saying goes, "distance makes beauty," memecoins follow the same principle. On the US Election Day, Trump was the first to reach 270 votes to win the election. However, many Trump-related concept coins not only did not rise but plummeted on that day. Coins related to concepts like "Trump" or "MAGA," which were too closely associated with Trump, lacked intrinsic narrative support. Instead, vested interest groups took advantage of the election to dump their holdings, resulting in what is known as "buy the rumor, sell the news." Concept coins explicitly named "Trump" or "MAGA" became the TOP Losers of that day.

Not only does PNUT have stronger sustainability in its narrative, but PNUT is also the best choice in terms of listing. Due to Binance's unparalleled listing effect, the market is always looking for the next potential stock to be listed on Binance. In the concept coin series, centralized exchanges cannot directly list tokens with tickers bearing strong political colors such as "Trump" and "MAGA." This undoubtedly increases operational political risks, as no one is willing to increase the risk of US judicial sanctions for a token. PNUT comes with its own political series traffic and is discreet enough, with a layer of "rice paper" backgrounded by a squirrel meme undoubtedly reducing many uncertainties after listing.

Peanut's political distance is just right, containing not only the top-notch internet celebrity meme attributes that ordinary zoo meme coins have (such as MOODENG) but also benefiting from Musk's and Trump's political concepts, possessing a wide mass base and political buff. PNUT cleverly stands at the balance point of traffic and political narrative. Both the timing and the momentum are right.

Musk's Shopping List: Representative Symbol of Democracy

Peanut's buff does not stop there; more importantly, PNUT stands at the center of this round's biggest shopping king, Musk's traffic. Smart readers may have already noticed that all assets related to Musk have outperformed the overall cryptocurrency market by a wide margin, even the token named MUSK has seen an increase. The "MUSK Trade" has become an undeniable alpha of this cycle.

DOGE

DOGE, as the largest market cap meme coin, is considered by most investors to be overvalued, with less cost-effectiveness compared to other "small cap" meme coins. However, in the past 14 days, DOGE has achieved a 120% increase, with a 96% increase in the past 7 days. DOGE's outstanding performance is partly due to Musk's full support for Trump in the election, as the market generally believes that Trump's victory is a huge positive for Musk-related concepts. On the other hand, it is due to the potential benefits of Musk applying Dogecoin to the payment system. It is also worth noting that on November 3rd, Robinhood Crypto has supported DOGE token transfers and deposits.

D.O.G.E

D.O.G.E is a meme coin named after the Department of Government Efficiency, where Musk served, on Ethereum, and surged after Trump released Musk's appointment statement. There are also numerous DOGE meme coins with the same ticker that have seen a general surge. For more information about DOGE, you can refer to the author's previous article "How did a 500 billion Dogecoin allow Musk to enter the US government department?".

BAN

In 2019, Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan created the artwork "Comedian," which featured a banana duct-taped to a wall. The piece was sold at Sotheby's for $120,000, earning the title of the "most expensive fruit" in history.

After experiencing sharp ups and downs, on November 18th, Musk retweeted a photo posted by Polaris' content director showing a large banana sculpture juxtaposed with a SpaceX Starship. Additionally, due to the listing of the BAN contract on Binance, BAN's market cap has surpassed $300 million.

PNUT

PNUT still carries on the legacy of MUSK Trade. There are often voices in the market saying, "The squirrel is just a tool for the Red Party to attack the Blue Party. PNUT will meet its end after the election." However, the reality is quite different. Not only does Musk himself often mourn the deceased squirrel Peanut on Twitter, but other celebrities outside the circle also frequently mention the squirrel. For example, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch cited the "peanut squirrel" case as a typical example of government overreach, and UFC boxer Jim Miller fought for justice for the little squirrel Peanut after winning a match.

PNUT has long moved away from being a "tool against the Democratic Party" and has instead evolved into a spiritual totem of "supporting democracy and opposing dictatorship." More importantly, the squirrel Peanut has already sacrificed itself, allowing people to fabricate stories about Peanut and imbue it with more spiritual meaning, even continuously "creating myths."

Comparison with Other Memecoins

Zoo Series

As an example, we will use the recently popular Zoo Series dog type to represent NEIRO and the hippopotamus series to represent MOODENG.

NEIRO is a new Shiba Inu coin officially announced by the Dogecoin owner, which experienced a case conflict and CTO at the beginning and went through a life-and-death situation before successfully undergoing a transformation. MOODENG, the bouncing pig, is a popular hippopotamus from a Thai zoo, benefiting from significant traffic in Web2. In terms of community, PNUT does not have the strong consensus community support that Neiro has; in terms of traffic, Moodeng far surpasses the squirrel in terms of fandom in the Web2 world. However, even though Moodeng is strong, it has not yet surpassed $600 million, and Neiro is still hovering around an $800 million market cap.

PNUT not only has a million-level influence similar to other animal-themed projects but also possesses a unique political buff and extremely strong explosiveness. PNUT quickly surged 500% the day after listing, breaking through a $2 billion market cap within a day. Its ability to rapidly attract funds and create market FOMO is unparalleled compared to other memecoins.

In summary, PNUT not only has the viral nature of other animal-themed projects but also boasts a unique political buff. Although PNUT is not a top-tier IP, it is undoubtedly a hexagonal warrior.

Political Icon

In the political arena, PNUT's direct competitor is the "Eagle." Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan was arrested for attempting to manipulate election results, leading to the "Free Shayne Coplan" movement and the creation of the "Eagle" icon meme coin. Free Shayne Coplan is seen as a tool to fight against Democratic Party injustices in the justice system. Furthermore, because the ticker symbol represents the American Eagle image, it received significant market attention on the day of its launch.

The emergence of the "Eagle" narrative largely reflects dissatisfaction with Democratic Party politics. If no further events occur along the Shayne Coplan storyline, the "Eagle" will gradually fade from the market, explaining the strange phenomenon of "many speculators hoping for its euthanasia." In contrast, PNUT has a stronger shaping effect and leadership in political attributes compared to the Eagle.

AI Memecoin

ACT, Aii6z, and GOAT are AI meme projects that have garnered market attention. However, the overall logic of AI memecoins differs from PNUT. These memecoins essentially redirect traffic from existing AI projects like WLD and LPT. While there is a zero-sum game at a macro level between PNUT and AI meme coins, at a detailed meme competition level, the two exist in parallel.

Summary

PNUT's core competitive advantages lie in (1) a perfect animal IP, being a viral animal image with a unique squirrel theme; (2) excellent traffic concentration, encompassing both internal and Web 2.0 traffic; (3) subtle political positioning, with political blessings and exchange listings; (4) Musk's endorsement list, becoming a core asset in this round of Musk's endorsements; (5) verified super explosiveness, with a 5x surge in a day and breaking through the $2 billion mark; and (6) most importantly, Peanut has made sacrifices, allowing the market to attribute more meaning to it and making it easier to "deify."

PNUT has become the epitome of this meme cycle. If you have found a target that has a higher ceiling than a squirrel and more buff than a squirrel, first of all, sincere congratulations to you! Secondly, please quietly tell me~

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