White House Mention Sends PENGUIN Token Soaring 564% - Viral Post Ignites Memecoin Frenzy

A casual social media post from the White House's official account has triggered a seismic rally in the cryptocurrency markets, propelling the PENGUIN token to a staggering 564% gain within hours.

The Anatomy of a Viral Pump

Details of the post remain sparse, but its impact was immediate and explosive. Trading volumes for the previously obscure memecoin spiked by thousands of percentage points as retail traders scrambled to buy the dip that never came. The surge exemplifies the hyper-sensitive, sentiment-driven nature of the altcoin market, where a single nod from a major institution can override all traditional valuation metrics.

Beyond the Hype Cycle

While the pump is undeniable, seasoned observers are watching for the inevitable pullback. These events often follow a predictable pattern: viral ignition, parabolic rise, and a sharp correction as early buyers take profits. The key question isn't the initial spike, but whether any fundamental utility or community growth can sustain the price discovery beyond the hype—most don't, serving as a stark reminder that in crypto, what the White House giveth, the market makers often taketh away.

It's another masterclass in digital asset volatility, proving that in today's market, a presidential retweet can move markets faster than a Federal Reserve announcement—and with far less regulatory scrutiny.

Alon says PENGUIN’s surge is a statement that onchain trading never died

Before the White House post, the cryptocurrency had a market cap of around $387,000, but within 24 hours, it saw $244 million in trading volume, according to SolanaFloor. According to DEXScreener, the token is currently worth about $0.13, giving it a market capitalization of roughly $136 million.

Speaking on the meme coin performance, Alon Cohen, the co-founder of meme coin launchpad Pump.fun, commented, “The early success of PENGUIN is proof that onchain trading was never dead, just a sleeping giant waiting for the right moment. Psychological barriers are only just beginning to get broken. Tons of opportunities ahead.”

The PENGUIN’s token gains come at a time of broader downturn in the meme coin market. Just last year, some 11.6 million crypto tokens collapsed, mostly due to the flood of meme coins launched by platforms such as Pump.fun. However, at the start of this year, the meme coin market cap briefly surged by 23%, rising from approximately $38 billion in December 2025 to over $47 billion, per CoinMarketCap.

Santiment data at the time showed that increased social media mentions of the assets matched meme coins’ short-term surge. Vincent Liu, the chief investment officer at trading firm Kronos Research, had also commented, “Meme coins typically lead when risk appetite returns. The rebound in the Fear and Greed Index from extreme fear toward neutral reinforces this shift.” 

At the time of writing, meme coins’ total market value had fallen to around $39 billion, as crypto markets continued to fluctuate between brief surges and dips.

Some X users mocked the White House post

The White House’s post taps into the viral “Nihilist Penguin” meme, which first appeared in a 2007 Werner Herzog documentary showing an Emperor penguin leaving its colony to wander toward the Antarctic mountains. Aside from the gains in the Penguin meme coin, it also elicited many social media reactions.

Some ridiculed the White House’s post, noting that penguins are found almost entirely in the southern hemisphere, and not in Greenland. Former Canadian Defense Minister Jason Kenney also zeroed in on the factual error, saying it echoed Trump’s earlier moment of confusion over Greenland and Iceland.

He wrote, “In the same week as his humiliating climb down on Greenland, he confused Iceland and Greenland multiple times, and now his staff is confusing Antarctica with Greenland. (penguins inhabit the former, not the latter.)”

On Saturday, however, the White House replied to his criticism, saying, “The penguin does not concern himself with the opinions of those who cannot comprehend.”

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump’s revived interest in acquiring Greenland also took center stage among international leaders. 

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