Jess Jiang

How did you first find out that peanut had been turned into some form of cryptocurrency?

It took a while for Mark to piece this together, but it appeared that just hours after the news of Peanut's death started going viral, some anonymous person or group online had turned Peanut into a meme coin, a kind of joke cryptocurrency. The meme coin featured an iconic image of Mark holding Peanut with a cowboy hat, and it had the ticker sign P-N-U-T.

It took a while for Mark to piece this together, but it appeared that just hours after the news of Peanut's death started going viral, some anonymous person or group online had turned Peanut into a meme coin, a kind of joke cryptocurrency. The meme coin featured an iconic image of Mark holding Peanut with a cowboy hat, and it had the ticker sign P-N-U-T.

It took a while for Mark to piece this together, but it appeared that just hours after the news of Peanut's death started going viral, some anonymous person or group online had turned Peanut into a meme coin, a kind of joke cryptocurrency. The meme coin featured an iconic image of Mark holding Peanut with a cowboy hat, and it had the ticker sign P-N-U-T.

Now, Mark knew barely anything about crypto at this point, but he understood there were now thousands of total strangers cumulatively making millions of dollars off of Peanut's good name on the Internet. And none of those profits were flowing to Mark or the animal sanctuary.

Now, Mark knew barely anything about crypto at this point, but he understood there were now thousands of total strangers cumulatively making millions of dollars off of Peanut's good name on the Internet. And none of those profits were flowing to Mark or the animal sanctuary.

Now, Mark knew barely anything about crypto at this point, but he understood there were now thousands of total strangers cumulatively making millions of dollars off of Peanut's good name on the Internet. And none of those profits were flowing to Mark or the animal sanctuary.

After the break, Mark Longo takes his final step into the deepest, darkest recesses of the squirrel hole.

After the break, Mark Longo takes his final step into the deepest, darkest recesses of the squirrel hole.

After the break, Mark Longo takes his final step into the deepest, darkest recesses of the squirrel hole.

OK, so for the first seven years of his life with Peanut the Squirrel, Mark Longo had managed to keep control over the growing streams of attention they generated together, like on Instagram or TikTok or OnlyFans. But in the wake of Peanut's death in the world of meme coins, Mark discovered he had little or no control.

OK, so for the first seven years of his life with Peanut the Squirrel, Mark Longo had managed to keep control over the growing streams of attention they generated together, like on Instagram or TikTok or OnlyFans. But in the wake of Peanut's death in the world of meme coins, Mark discovered he had little or no control.

OK, so for the first seven years of his life with Peanut the Squirrel, Mark Longo had managed to keep control over the growing streams of attention they generated together, like on Instagram or TikTok or OnlyFans. But in the wake of Peanut's death in the world of meme coins, Mark discovered he had little or no control.

Peanut's viral popularity had been leveraged by a group of anonymous crypto insiders into ludicrous amounts of money, tens of millions of dollars.

Peanut's viral popularity had been leveraged by a group of anonymous crypto insiders into ludicrous amounts of money, tens of millions of dollars.

Peanut's viral popularity had been leveraged by a group of anonymous crypto insiders into ludicrous amounts of money, tens of millions of dollars.

At first, he says, some of the people who seemed to be behind these coins did offer to make donations to the animal sanctuary. All they asked was that Mark basically promote their coins on social media.

At first, he says, some of the people who seemed to be behind these coins did offer to make donations to the animal sanctuary. All they asked was that Mark basically promote their coins on social media.

At first, he says, some of the people who seemed to be behind these coins did offer to make donations to the animal sanctuary. All they asked was that Mark basically promote their coins on social media.

once he did they sent him donations some in the form of meme coins but Mark says soon after some of those traders figured out a way to take back their donations and partly in retaliation for that and partly because he needed real money to feed his animals Mark sold off a big chunk of the coins he'd been given