Seattle Raccoon Meme Sends Solana Token JIMOTHY Soaring 52-Fold in a Day

A Seattle raccoon that went viral online has helped send a cryptocurrency inspired by the animal soaring in just one day.

CoinGecko data on July 17 showed the Solana-based meme coin JIMOTHY the Raccoon climbed to a record intraday market capitalization above $22 million.

The token traded at about $0.02 apiece that day. Its market capitalization was about $21 million, while 24-hour trading volume reached roughly $27 million. Some on-chain price trackers showed the token surged as much as 52-fold from a day earlier during intraday trading.

The jump followed the popularity of the real-life raccoon Jimothy. The animal was found in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood and drew attention on social media for its unusually short torso and distinctive appearance, which is believed to be the result of a congenital spinal deformity. KUOW reported that videos related to Jimothy have drawn more than 10 million views on social media.

Local media outlets and major social media accounts shared the videos in quick succession, while fan art and parody posts spread online. Jimothy quickly emerged as an internet meme. The Jimothy token was launched on July 16 on Pump.fun, a Solana-based meme-coin issuance platform, as interest in the original meme spread.

About 1 billion Jimothy tokens are currently in circulation. The token is traded mainly on Solana-based decentralized exchanges including PumpSwap, Meteora and Raydium. With daily trading volume exceeding its market capitalization, turnover has been brisk and price volatility has widened sharply.

It has not been confirmed whether there is any official connection between the raccoon or the original video uploader and the entity behind the token.