A 500-fold increase in one month: How did a crypto KOL revive White Whale using "responsible storytelling"?

Original article by Odaily Planet Daily

Author: Dingdang

This is the story of Meme coin, which was supposed to be dead, but unexpectedly revived from the bottom after being almost forgotten by the market.

White Whale's market capitalization has surged nearly 500 times in less than a month, from less than $100,000, to a current value of $57 million. The community is now declaring that the next target is $100 million.

The familiar Meme coin formula: from beginning to end

White Whale was launched on October 13, 2025, via Pump.fun. It was originally created by a fan who "borrowed" the avatar and image of crypto KOL @TheWhiteWhaleV2 as a meme. @TheWhiteWhaleV2 is an OG (Original Guild) on X with 828,000 followers. His avatar is a whale clad in armor with a stern expression, and his style is serious and restrained. He often shares trading philosophies and market insights. Perhaps because of this, fans see him as a positive symbol of the "whale."

The project's initial narrative was "The People's Whale," intended as a satire and rebellion against large whales or institutional manipulation in the crypto market, positioned as a tool for community counterattack. However, this was purely a fan-created prank and was not authorized by @TheWhiteWhaleV2 himself. Even he himself later tweeted that "this thing will be dead in 48 hours." And this kind of "using someone else's profile picture to launch a cryptocurrency" incident was not the first time it had happened to him.

This is precisely why it's said that it was a Meme coin that "should" have died. On Pump.fun, thousands of Meme coins are created every day, and 99.9% of them die quickly; this coin was no exception. Upon launch, its market capitalization briefly surged to around $100,000 after the pegging curve, then quickly cooled down. From mid-October to early December, the price remained largely flat, trading volume was near zero, and it was almost forgotten. This is an ending the market has seen countless times before.

Dramatic Twist: The Whale's "Redemption" and Community Takeover

The turning point came on December 7, 2025.

@TheWhiteWhaleV2 suddenly announced in a post that he has officially taken over the treasury and control of this Meme coin. The reason is simple: fans used his image and reputation without permission. He initially ignored it, but seeing that the coin was gaining some attention (albeit a small one), he worried that a future Rug Pull would damage his reputation. So he decided to "personally step in" to protect the brand.

He emphasized that this was not a coin he created, and he initially even advised people not to buy it. However, in order to control his image and portrait rights, he had no choice but to take over.

Of course, that's not important.

Importantly, he promised that 100% of the creators' earnings would be returned to the community, and he also bought some tokens as a memento, which he would never sell.

And it demonstrated its sincerity with actions. On the day it announced the takeover, it spent $10,000 to purchase 5.3 million tokens, which were locked through the Streamflow protocol and will be unlocked in 2063.

After that, he disclosed that he had spent $130,000 supporting the community, building pools and adjusting LP bandwidth on Wasabi to reduce the impact of volatility on holders, and incentivizing community contributors with his personal funds.

Based on the above actions, what was originally a "fan prank" was gradually reinterpreted by the community as a narrative sample about "good management".

What stories does on-chain data tell?

Following White Whale's 100-fold surge, on-chain analyst @cryptorinweb3 re-analyzed key indicators for the token. According to his research, on December 2nd, data from @nansen_ai showed a sudden drop in the token supply held by the top 100 holders, from 870 million to 140 million. After reviewing the exchange tag, he found that this decline was primarily due to a large inflow of funds back into major liquidity pools (LPs). He cautioned that if you see such a shift in the top 100 holdings, it's always a signal worth investigating further.

Then, on December 4, the "smart money inflow" indicator he set in Discord was triggered, accompanied by an increase in trading volume.

On December 7th, @TheWhiteWhaleV2 officially took over. Starting December 8th, after removing CEX/DEX wallets, the top 100 real holders increased their holdings by over 80%, while exchange supply remained stable.

Let's review the performance of White Whale's token: From the "smart money activity" on December 4th to the official takeover on December 7th, White Whale's price only increased by about 6 times, and then experienced a correction; the real breakout occurred in late December.

This is certainly driven by emotions and funds, but on the other hand, the responsible attitude and transparent on-chain operations demonstrated by @TheWhiteWhaleV2 himself are the foundation of the project.

White Whale is essentially a microcosm of the Solana Meme coin ecosystem: random, chaotic, and high-risk. However, its survival and subsequent popularity stemmed from an unexpected positive turn: a meme coin that was on the verge of collapse was taken over by its original creator in a "responsible and well-managed" manner, rebuilding trust and becoming the most inspiring "anti-rug" case of late 2025. While we don't know how far it can go, in a market known for its short-term speculation, this in itself is quite rare.