Internet fame is a fleeting thing, even if you’re an adorable baby hippo.
Moo Deng, who charmed the internet with her knee biting and lettuce gobbling, has (predictably) had her image appropriated for a memecoin. And, true to form, pop culture addicts and crypto speculators have driven that memecoin’s price up—a lot.
The Moo Deng crypto has seen its price climb more than 1,400% since it was launched on Sept. 10. But the token price is already on the decline. It’s down 8% in early trading Monday and is already more than 30% off of its peak.
As with any memecoin, the value of Moo Deng could collapse at any time. One trader bought $800 worth of the token just four hours after it was launched. That was worth $7.5 million on paper as of Friday. Once that buyer begins to cash out, the crypto is likely to see its value collapse.
Like other memecoins, Moo Deng is not based on any real asset.
That said, when it comes to memecoins, Moo Deng is leading the wildlife pack right now. It’s trading at almost twice the price of onetime darling Dogecoin (which was at 12 cents Monday midmorning) and light years beyond Shiba Inu, which is down to $0.000018.
Moo Deng (the dwarf hippo, not the crypto) has become an internet sensation in the past few weeks. Beyond the countless social media posts, she was portrayed by Bowen Yang on the Saturday Night Live season premiere, and she’s even made the New York Times style section. And her reach extends far beyond the crypto world: Makeup companies are using her as an influencer to achieve her wet look.
