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How the memecoin game is played

Peanut the squirrel. (Photo by Mark Longo)
Mark Longo
/
Mark Longo
Peanut the squirrel. (Photo by Mark Longo)

Memecoins are having a moment, but who's making money off them? On today's show, how a dearly beloved internet squirrel found an afterlife as a cryptocurrency and how others, including President Trump, are trying to capitalize on online fame.

Related episodes:
Is government crypto a good idea? (Apple / Spotify)
WTF is a bitcoin ETF? (Apple / Spotify)
Who let the Doge(coin) out?

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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Nic Neves
Nic M. Neves (he/him) is a production assistant with NPRs Enterprise Storytelling Unit. He's in all odd ends of production, from tracking down the perfect voice actor to composing just the right song for a moment in a story. Neves is an alum of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies at the Maine College of Art & Design. Before that, he studied science, psychology and music at Brandeis University. When he's not crafting an audio story, he's either making music and coffee in his dark cave of an apartment or haunting his local jazz club in Brooklyn, NY.
Wailin Wong
Wailin Wong is a long-time business and economics journalist who's reported from a Chilean mountaintop, an embalming fluid factory and lots of places in between. She is a host of The Indicator from Planet Money. Previously, she launched and co-hosted two branded podcasts for a software company and covered tech and startups for the Chicago Tribune. Wailin started her career as a correspondent for Dow Jones Newswires in Buenos Aires. In her spare time, she plays violin in one of the oldest community orchestras in the U.S.
Julia Ritchey
Julia Ritchey is an audio journalist with 15 years experience reporting, editing and podcasting all over the country. She's reported from eight states and all four U.S. time zones, most recently at Nashville Public Radio, Tennessee's largest NPR affiliate, overseeing the station's policy, environmental and education beats.
Kate Concannon
Kate Concannon is the Supervising Senior Editor at The Indicator from Planet Money. She leads this small, collaborative team of hosts, reporters and producers in making sense of crucial, but often complex and confusing, economic news in just 10 minutes a day.
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