Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Ding Dang (@XiaMiPP)
This is the story of a meme coin that "should have died," but unexpectedly revived from the bottom after being nearly forgotten by the market.
White Whale surged nearly 500 times in less than a month, climbing from a market cap of less than $100,000 to a current temporary market cap of $57 million. The community is now calling for the next target: $100 million.
A Familiar Meme Coin Pattern: From Start to End
White Whale was launched on Pump.fun on October 13, 2025. It was originally created by a fan as a joke, "borrowing" the avatar and image of crypto KOL @TheWhiteWhaleV2. @TheWhiteWhaleV2 is a crypto OG on X with 828,000 followers. His avatar is a whale clad in armor with a stern and cold expression, in a serious and restrained style. He often shares trading philosophies and market insights. Perhaps because of this, fans see him as a positive "whale" symbol.
The initial narrative of the project was "The People's Whale," intended to satirize and resist manipulation by big whales or institutions in the crypto market, positioning itself as a tool for community counterattacks. But this was purely a fan's prank-like creation, without authorization or permission from @TheWhiteWhaleV2 himself. He even later tweeted that "this thing will die in 48 hours." And similar incidents of "borrowing avatars to issue coins" were not the first time for him.
This is exactly why it was originally "supposed" to be a dead meme coin. On Pump.fun, thousands of meme coins are born every day, and 99.9% of them die quickly; this coin was no exception. Shortly after its launch, the market cap briefly surged to around $100,000 after the curve binding, then quickly cooled off. From mid-October to early December, the price basically moved sideways, with trading volume near zero, almost forgotten. This is an ending the market has seen countless times.
A Dramatic Turnaround: The Whale's "Redemption" and Community Takeover
The turning point came on December 7, 2025.
@TheWhiteWhaleV2 himself suddenly posted an announcement: He officially took over the Treasury and control of this meme coin. The reason was simple: fans used his image and reputation without permission. He initially ignored it, but seeing that the coin had gained some (albeit small) popularity, he was worried that if a Rug Pull happened in the future, it would damage his reputation. So he decided to "step in personally" to protect the brand.
He emphasized that this was not a coin he created and that he initially even advised people not to buy it. But to control his own image and portrait rights, he had to take over.
Of course, that's not important.
What is important is his promise: 100% of the creator revenue will be returned to the community, and he also bought some tokens as a memento, with the portion he bought never to be sold.
And he proved his sincerity with actions. On the day he announced the takeover, he spent $10,000 to buy 5.3 million tokens and locked them via the Streamflow protocol, with an unlock date set for 2063.
After that, he disclosed that he had already spent $130,000 to support the community, building a pool on Wasabi and adjusting the LP bandwidth to reduce volatility for holders, and using personal funds to incentivize community contributors.
It was these operations that gradually transformed what was originally a "fan prank" into a narrative sample about "good management" as understood by the community.
What Story Do the On-Chain Data Tell?
After White Whale surged 100 times, on-chain analyst @cryptorinweb3 revisited the token's indicator signals. According to the investigation, on December 2, @nansen_ai data showed that the token supply held by the top 100 holders suddenly dropped from 870 million to 140 million tokens. After checking the exchange labels, he found that this drop was mainly due to a significant amount of funds flowing back to the main liquidity pool (LP). He reminded that when you see such a change in the top 100 holdings, it is always a signal worth further investigation.
Then, on December 4, the "smart money inflow" indicator he set up in Discord was triggered, accompanied by an increase in trading volume.
On December 7, @TheWhiteWhaleV2 himself announced the official takeover. And starting from December 8, after excluding CEX/DEX wallets, the real top 100 holders increased their holdings by over 80%, while exchange supply remained stable.
Let's revisit White Whale's token performance: from the "smart money anomaly" on December 4 to the official takeover on December 7, White Whale's increase was only about 6 times, and it subsequently experienced a correction; the real explosion occurred in late December.
This, of course, is inseparable from sentiment and capital driving, but on the other hand, the responsible attitude and transparent on-chain operations demonstrated by @TheWhiteWhaleV2 himself form the foundation of the project.
White Whale is essentially a microcosm of the Solana meme coin ecosystem: random, chaotic, high-risk. But the reason it survived and became popular is due to an unexpected positive turn: a nearly dead joke coin was taken over by the original figure in a "responsible, well-managed" manner, rebuilding trust and creating the most inspiring "anti-Rug" case at the end of 2025. Although we don't know how far it can go, in such a market known for short-term gambling, this in itself is rare enough.
