The developer who created a billion-dollar empire and walked away with $761
the "PNUT Dev"
- anonymous deployer
- withdraws 2 SOL ($335) from Coinbase
- launches a token on Pumpfun
October 31, 2024
- launches Peanut the Squirrel solana:2qEHjDLDLbuBgRYvsxhc5D6uDWAivNFZGan56P1tpump
- rides the viral wave of NY authorities seizing a pet squirrel
- token starts pumping immediately
- panics and sells everything 2 minutes later
- dumps 63,909,090 PNUT
- swaps it for 3.51 SOL ($761.92)
profit: ~$761
- walks away happy with a free dinner
- then the internet takes over
- Elon Musk tweets about the squirrel
- Binance lists the token
market cap peaks at $1.8 billion
if he held at the peak, his bag was worth $105,449,998
- he tries to capture the lightning again
- launches FRED (the raccoon seized with Peanut)
- rugs it for a minor profit
- community abandons him
June 2026 (19 months later)
- the hype dies down
- PNUT retraces 97% from the highs
- sitting at a $41 million market cap
yet, his fumbled bag is still worth $2.6 million today
- a lifetime retirement fund, traded for a dinner
- and he still can't let go
weeks ago (late April 2026)
- he buys $BELKA (another squirrel token) for 49.5 SOL
- sends an on-chain message:
"Let PNUT be proud of you, words from one squirrel to another"
trading $105,000,000 in peak wealth for $761
And now he's sending on-chain messages begging for attention from copycat tokens
