Pygmy hippo Moo Deng has captured the hearts of the internet from a zoo in Thailand. The hippo has become a viral sensation. So it’s hardly surprising that a Moo Deng-inspired Solana meme coin has soared past a $70 million market cap in just two weeks.
Moo Deng, whose name translates from Thai to “bouncy pork,” is a two-month-old pygmy hippo at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi, Thailand. The internet has gone wild for her chubby cheeks, cute demeanor, and the fact she’s always inexplicably moist—as posts rake in millions of views.
And whenever there is a viral meme, a meme coin will always surface.
Solana token Moo Deng (MOODENG) was launched on meme coin factory Pump.fun two weeks ago and has skyrocketed past a $70 million market cap. On Tuesday, the token hit a peak market cap of $71 million. But it was short lived. The market cap has since fallen to $63.5 million in the hours that followed.
The meme coin’s Twitter account has cleverly positioned itself as the largest Moo Deng fan page, just shy of 39,000 followers. That’s almost four times the amount of total token holders that exist.
To put that into perspective, the account has more followers than both Gigachad (GIGA) Twitter accounts combined. The GIGA meme coin currently sits above a $210 million market cap with a notable celebrity endorsement and mainstream appeal.
This has made MOODENG the fourth largest meme coin on Pump.fun, breaking past Billy (BILLY), the meme-turned-religion token Smoking Chicken Fish (SCF), and the Andrew Tate-endorsed Daddy Tate (DADDY). It currently sits $10 million behind Fwog (FWOG), although MOODENG momentarily surpassed the frog coin for just a few minutes as she hit her peak market cap.
Khao Kheow Open Zoo revealed on Thursday that Moo Deng will be receiving her own 24 hour livestream this week in response to the baby hippo going viral. As reported by the The Associated Press, people have been so eager to see the two-month-old internet sensation that her enclosure becomes crowded almost immediately after the zoo opens.
Pygmy hippos are an endangered species with only 2,000 estimated to be remaining in the wild, according to the Pygmy Hippo Foundation. This species of hippo is only half as tall and a quarter of the weight of a regular hippopotamus. In the wild, they spend most of their time in swamps and rivers to keep their skin wet hence. That’s why Moo Deng is often being sprayed with water by zookeepers—much to the delight of her fans.
