A macaque monkey called Punch that’s emotionally attached to his IKEA plushie has spurred on a memecoin run reminiscent of Moo Deng’s fame after he was bullied by the rest of its housemates at a Japanese zoo.
The Punch token (PUNCH) was launched on February 6 as memes and stories around the monkey began to circulate.
Punch was born at the Ichikawa City Zoo, where he was rejected by his mother during a heat wave and raised by the zoo staff. He was reintroduced to his group of monkeys but has struggled to become accepted ever since.
The little guy has been chased and harassed by the other monkeys, but what’s caught everyone’s attention is the comfort he’s found with an IKEA monkey plushie.
This virality has led to PUNCH’s trading volume rising to $46 million and the price of the token shooting up 12,777% across the week to $0.031.
A lot of memecoin traders have felt that there hasn’t been a good “runner” in some time. This is a type of token that gains significant attention and increases in price.
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When a penguin from Werner Herzog’s 2007 documentary “Encounters at the End of the World” became viral earlier this year, a token themed around that penguin attracted $500 million in trading volume and hit a market cap high of $153 million.
Another successful runner similar to Punch was the launch of the Moo Deng token back in 2024, a token based on a viral baby hippo that was filmed biting its carers. The Moo Deng token reached a market cap of over $600 million.
Both tokens, however, are down over 90% since their all-time highs, like most memecoins.
PUNCH token shows signs of market manipulation
Popular crypto trader The White Whale issued a warning about the Punch token, suggesting that it’s showing signs of “market manipulation” and that the sheer volume of liquidity the token attracted suggests that it’s not organic.
They said, “The project and project dev is most likely not behind the things I’m warning about here. The project may or may not be a good project. But this is cabal action. Plain and simple.”
It’s not just crypto traders who have jumped on the monetary potential of a viral monkey, as users have already suggested buying up the plushie monkey from their local IKEAs and selling them on at an inflated price.
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Scalpers or not, IKEA has recorded an increase in sales of the plushie thanks to Punch’s fame.
The zoo itself is also experiencing a surge of visitors who have come just to see Punch the monkey.
Punch has even caught the eyes of Justin Sun, the billionaire founder of Tron, who donated $100,000 to the zoo housing Punch via his exchange HTX.
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