Crypto Inspired by ‘Moo Deng’ Zooms to $100M as Hippo Meme Takes Over Internet

Moo Deng, a newborn Thai hippo at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Bangkok, has captured the hearts of many online through her cute antics. Now, she’s the star of a $100 million memecoin.

The Solana token crossed the milestone capitalization earlier Thursday, becoming one of the few to reach that level from zero in recent months, CoinMarketCap data shows.

It’s also the first Thai-themed token to hit that market cap, though it’s not a Thai project per se, according to Udomsak Rakwongwan, a professor at Kasetsart University and co-founder of decentralized exchange FWX.Finance.

“There used to be other memes in Thailand, but they were not so successful because they began in Thailand,” he said. “There was a token about ex-junta prime minister. It went quite viral, but the price and market caps didn’t go anywhere.”

“Moodeng is a little different,” because the hippo has been on major global media and appeals to a global audience rather than a token about a politician that only Thais would know.

Holder count has zoomed to 12,400 unique wallets, with over $48.5 million in volume traded over the last 24 hours, a fan page for the token said Wednesday.

One trader made millions from the hippo heartthrob, with on-chain data from Lookonchain showing a wallet that turned $1,331 into $3.4 million by correctly timing the market.

Moo Deng – which means bouncy pork in Thai – was born in July and became a popular Internet meme earlier this month after images of her went viral online. She has two siblings, brother Moo Toon (stewed pork) and sister Moo Waan (sweet pork). They also birthed tokens on Solana and other networks, but failed to catch the traction that Moo Deng did.

Companies including Dreamworks and UFC are using Moo Deng’s popularity to produce memes based on the hippo, a shift away from the usual cats or dogs.

The Bangkok zoo is reportedly working on copyrighting and trademarking “Moo Deng the hippo” for fundraising purposes. So far, it hasn’t acknowledged the memecoin or any crypto-related Moo Deng imagery.

Meanwhile, some see the token as a fresh, engaging memecoin with genuine appeal due to its cute and interesting theme.

“I believe Moodeng is EXACTLY what meme coins should be like,” X user and crypto trader @0xuberM said. “Something genuinely cute/interesting with crazy normie appeal that will capture enough attention over a sustained period of time to guarantee PVE expansion where everyone eats.”