Memecoins are having a moment. Everyone from Hawk Tuah to President Donald Trump to animal influencers like Moo Deng the pygmy hippo have been turned into cryptocurrency. But what are the costs of all the hype?On today's show — a modern parable. How an orphaned baby rodent became a world famous animal influencer, became a political martyr, and was finally transmuted into a billion dollar cryptocurrency. It's a tale about how a chance encounter can lead to fame and fortune. But also how all that can spin wildly out of control in this brave, new – kind of terrifying – attention economy we're all living in.This episode was hosted by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi and Nic Neves. This episode was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Jess Jiang. Fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. And engineered by Jimmy Keeley. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What warning is given at the start of the episode?
Just a quick warning, this episode talks about sex and sex work. It's an economic show, after all.
This is Planet Money from NPR.
On the morning of October 30th, 2024, Mark Longo was doing what he does most mornings. He was at his animal sanctuary on a farm in upstate New York, feeding the several hundred horses and goats and pygmy donkeys he's rescued, many of which he and his wife have saved from the slaughterhouse. So where were you when the raid began?
Chapter 2: What happens when the raid on the farm begins?
I was at the end of the driveway in the beginning.
That is when Mark saw something strange and menacing approaching the property. A convoy of SUVs with New York state government decals on the door. They're from an agency called the DEC. What does DEC stand for? Department of Environmental Conservation.
One of these Department of Environmental Conservation officers gets out of the car and tells Mark they'd come to his farm in order to take somebody into custody. And then he produced a search warrant. But the warrant wasn't for Mark or his wife or any of the people on the farm. The warrant was for a squirrel named Peanut.
And I remember I got a call off to my wife to say, they're here, hide the animals. And I tried to buy myself some time to maybe figure out what's going on here.
What was going on here was that Mark's pet squirrel, Peanut, had become one of the most famous squirrels in the world. Thanks to social media, Peanut had reached the status of animal influencer. He had over a million followers on Instagram and TikTok. But as the DEC officers reminded Mark, it is illegal in the state of New York to keep wildlife as a pet without a special permit.
a permit that Mark did not have. The DEC said they'd received several complaints, and based on dozens of extremely popular and frankly quite adorable videos on Peanut's social media page, the officers had determined that both Peanut and a relatively newly acquired raccoon named Fred were somewhere on the premises.
Over the next several hours, DEC officers made Mark and his wife stand by as they scoured the property in search of Mark's celebrity squirrel.
Until, finally... I was midway on the staircase. I had three cops to my right. I had three to my left. And one of them yelled, I found Peanut. I found the squirrel. And I said, listen, guys, like, I'll take Peanut. I apologize. I'll put him in the car and I'll drive him to Connecticut. You'll never see him again.
And the guy to my right, I'll never forget this to the day I die, he looked at me dead in my eyes and said, it was a squirrel, now it's a raccoon. When is this snowball effect going to stop?
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Chapter 3: How did Peanut the Squirrel become a social media sensation?
Which is exactly what happened when Peanut's first viral video popped off. After that, a popular animal video website called The Dodo posted a video featuring Mark and Peanut.
Then the messages started rolling in. Mark started getting calls from radio stations and TV shows from around the world.
We went on British TV and they deemed him the world's most famous squirrel. And that's when his TikTok blew up. And that's where, you know, 100,000 followers became a few million. And we just kind of rolled with the wave.
Mark says Peanut warmed to this newfound limelight right away. He was just a preternaturally charismatic mini fauna, especially when the cameras were rolling.
I fist pumped that squirrel so many damn times because he just nailed these interviews like it was something that he was meant to do. Peanut knew how to turn on the charm. Did he ever. You know, especially with ladies. Like, he was a ladies' man.
Mark says his male friends would regularly post photos with Peanut on their online dating profiles. Two great success. And for Mark himself, Peanut turned out to be the ultimate wingman.
I met my wife because of Peanut.
No way.
My wife DM'd me on Peanut's page. And that's how we met. She ended up calling me wearing a flying squirrel costume.
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