The Nietzschean Penguin (PENGUIN) token, a memecoin launched on the Solana layer-1 blockchain network, surged by about 564% after traders latched onto a viral social media post from the United States White House.
On Friday, the White House published a social media post on X of US President Donald Trump and a penguin holding hands and walking through the snow, which went viral.
PENGUIN traded at a market capitalization of about $387,000 before the post and recorded $244 million in trading volume in the 24 hours after the post, according to SolanaFloor.
The token’s market capitalization is about $136 million at the time of this writing, and it is trading at about $0.13, data from DEXScreener shows.
“The early success of PENGUIN is proof that onchain trading was never dead, just a sleeping giant waiting for the right moment,” Alon Cohen, the co-founder of memecoin launchpad Pump.fun — the platform PENGUIN launched on — said.
The surge of the PENGUIN token came amid a broad downturn in the memecoin market, which was one of the best-performing crypto sectors in 2024, but crashed after several high-profile celebrity tokens declined by 80% or more from their peak prices.
Related: Memecoin trading spikes briefly as traders cash in, say analysts
Memecoins show signs of life in 2026 after a disappointing year
11.6 million crypto tokens failed in 2025, largely driven by the flood of memecoins launched on platforms like Pump.fun and other similar launchpads.
The total market capitalization of memecoins briefly surged by 23% in January 2026, rising from about $38 billion in December 2025 to over $47 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
The brief surge in memecoins was accompanied by a spike in social media mentions of memecoins, according to crypto market analysis company Santiment.
“Memecoins typically lead when risk appetite returns. The rebound in the Fear and Greed Index from extreme fear toward neutral reinforces this shift,” Vincent Liu, the chief investment officer at trading firm Kronos Research, told Cointelegraph.
However, the memecoin market fell back down to about $39 billion in total market capitalization at the time of publication, as crypto markets continue to move sideways, oscillating between temporary short-term rallies and pullbacks.
Magazine: Memecoins: Betrayal of crypto’s ideals… or its true purpose?
