Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's adoption of Moo Deng, an internet-famous pygmy hippopotamus, fueled the creation of the MOODENG memecoin and its subsequent rally. The Khao Kheow Open Zoo revealed that Buterin joined their Wildlife Sponsorship Program, pledging 10 million baht, or around $293,000 USD, to support Moo Deng and her family, in a Dec. 26 announcement . Buterin expressed in a post on X his commitment to supporting Moo Deng over the next two years “with my 10M THB donation, maybe more as I set aside 88 ETH for [pygmy hippopotamuses] + frens.” The move by Buterin spiked the memecoin’s price by as high as 70% to $0.0002446 before retracing to $0.0001924, which is a 55% increase in the past 24 hours. The coin’s trading volume also increased by 1,037% to $59,964,342, according to CoinGecko data . To continue reading this as well as other DeFi and Web3 news, visit us at thedefiant.io
