Moo Deng the baby hippo is making some people millions in crypto: It’s the ‘Mooney’ honey

In recent weeks, Moo Deng, the young hippo in Thailand, went viral worldwide, and some people are making a lot of money off the memecoin that bears her name. The lovely animal is winning people over with her pure charm. Videos of Moo Deng eating, sleeping, playing, running around, and getting showered and spanked by zookeepers went viral, making her a household name online.

On September 11, Moo Deng became a meme, and as the craze for her grew, a memecoin was introduced on the decentralized blockchain platform Solana. According to cryptocurrency watchers, the value of Moo Deng Token increased by around 1400% every week, reaching a market capitalization of $300 million by the previous week.

According to data from Arkham, an investment of $800 in Moo Deng increased to $3.5 million in just 15 days. Memecoins for Moo Deng’s siblings, Moo Waan and Toon, and their mother Jonah are now available. Moo Deng’s unofficial Twitter fan page has around 50,000 followers, which has increased interest in the token, according to Crptobriefing. After paying 27,848 $SOL ($4.34M) to purchase 17.73M $MOODENG at $0.245, the whale is now the second-largest $MOODENG holder. In the Thai province of Chonburi, in Si Racha, in the Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Moo Deng was born in July 2024.

She is a West African pygmy hippopotamus, a critically endangered species. In the wild, there are just 2,000 pygmy hippos.  After her videos started going viral, big companies also joined the frenzy, with Microsoft, DreamWorks, and Universal Pictures creating and sharing memes on social media around her image.