Billionaire Elon Musk’s X post drew attention to Solana’s Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) token, which has so far climbed more than 10% in price in just 24 hours.
In his Tuesday post, Musk bashed the government for failing to take action against people on the Epstein client list, including a meme mocking the justice system. The meme insinuated that more squirrels and raccoons than Epstein’s affiliates have been apprehended.
Crypto traders tied Musk’s post to Solana’s PNUT token
Musk also mentioned a squirrel named Peanut, who was “arrested (and killed), in his post. While he didn’t name the PNUT token explicitly, the timing of his post coincided with a spike in the coin’s price and trading activity.
He wrote, “They arrested (and killed) Peanut but have not even tried to file charges against anyone on the Epstein client list. Government is deeply broken.”
So far, the post has over 13.7 million views, earning nearly 45% of the views in just a few hours. Crypto investors seem to have associated his post with the Solana meme coin. After his post, the PNUT token surged 10% to $0.2357. The asset’s 24-hour trading volume also grew 80%, crossing $214 million. Currently, the meme coin has a market cap of $223 million, trading at $0.2257.
Musk’s past posts have fueled crypto price rallies
This is not the first time Musk’s posts have driven price rallies for crypto assets. In January, he changed his handle on X to “Kekius Maximus” and profile picture to show “Pepe the Frog” in Roman military attire, holding a video game joystick. After his alteration, the Kekius Maximus token surged over 900%.
In 2021, Musk wrote, “The Dogefather SNL May 8” in one of his posts, and Dogecoin, a popular meme coin, rose over 20% in 24 hours. Then again, in 2024, he posted an AI image related to the token, causing another price rise for the token by about 8%.
Additionally, in January 2021, he changed his bio on the platform to #bitcoin. Soon after, Bitcoin’s price jumped from roughly $32,000 to more than $38,000, adding $111 billion to its market cap. Moreover, the Ethereum-based meme coin Floki rose 418% after the billionaire posted a picture of his dog named Floki in 2023.
Judging from history, Musk’s meme and crypto-related posts, no matter how subtle, tend to spark swift reactions in the crypto market. In this case, a satirical political reference propelled a Solana meme token upward, but whether the token can grow more hinges on future hype and traction.
Musk is hoping to establish a new political party
Meanwhile, the billionaire is focused on building a third party that could rival the Republican and Democratic parties. Following his fallout with President Trump over the ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ Musk disclosed the birth of the American Party. He’s touted the new party as tech-driven, fiscally responsible, energy-friendly, and politically centrist, aiming to attract both Democrats and Republicans alike.
However, experts have warned that disbanding the grip of the traditional parties demands significant funding and long-term dedication. They noted how previous attempts failed, especially since elections in the country are at a state-by-state level. However, some are optimistic that Musk could pull through with his new party, including David Jolly, a former Republican congressman from Florida. Jolly believes the challenge in forming a new party is having resources, noting that Musk could provide that.
On other developments, Tesla shareholders will vote on whether the company should invest in xAI. According to Elon Musk, the company’s board and backers must approve any decision to invest in the Grok chatbot developer.
He commented, “It’s not up to me. If it was up to me, Tesla would have invested in xAI long ago. We will have a shareholder vote on the matter.”
Last year, in a move to crowdsource public opinion, the billionaire asked X users whether Tesla should invest $5 billion in xAI. Even then, he clarified that the final decision rested with the shareholders. More than two-thirds of respondents voted in favor of the investment.
Musk plans to incorporate xAI into Tesla’s vehicles and SpaceX’s projects
In 2023, Elon Musk launched xAI, just months after OpenAI introduced its chatbot, ChatGPT. The AI startup was then integrated with social media platform X, and the two combined are worth over $113 billion.
With the launch of xAI, however, Tesla found itself trying to retain its AI talent, especially after some jumped ship to join the new venture. In June 2024, Musk also gave AI chips meant for Tesla to xAI. Back then, he explained that Tesla had no place to use the chips; thus, he diverted about 12,000 of Nvidia’s H100 graphics processing units to the AI startup.
Despite the conflicts with Tesla, xAI managed to secure investments early on. In early 2024, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz were among the top investors for the chatbot.
Currently, the XAI Holdings, the merged entity, is in discussions to raise funds at a valuation of as much as $200 billion. Musk is also believed to be pushing for more integration within his different businesses. Last Thursday, the billionaire said they will incorporate xAI’s Grok into their electric vehicles, adding, “next week at the latest.”
Additionally, in April, xAI spent over $198.3 million in commercial, consulting and support agreements with the EV manufacturer. The AI startup used about $191 million in purchasing energy storage batteries from Tesla.
According to the Wall Street Journal, SpaceX also plans to invest $2 billion in xAI. The company’s investment is reportedly within the framework of a $5 billion equity raise disclosed by Morgan Stanley in June.
So far, Grok is already involved in Starlink’s customer service systems, and investors say Musk’s team is suggesting more joint projects between SpaceX and xAI in the future.
xAI’s chatbot posted antisemitic and controversial claims on X
On Saturday, xAI apologized to users for a series of antisemitic and controversial responses, which it blamed on a system update. The AI venture explained that the system upgrade made the chatbot refer to “existing X user posts, including when such posts contained extremist views,” hence the inappropriate posts, praising Adolf Hitler, conspiracy theories, and antisemitic rhetoric.
It also articulated that they had given the bot new directives that may have caused the outrageous posts. The company stated that it asked the bot to be more engaging with the user, understand the tone of the user, and be direct, even if it offends the ’politically correct.’
Nevertheless, xAI launched the new Grok 4 about a day after removing inappropriate posts on X.
A similar incident occurred in May, when the chatbot began inserting claims of “white genocide” in South Africa into unrelated conversations. The company blamed the behavior, however, on a rogue staff member.
