Waddles, the celebrity pig, is now a video game and meme coin
Waddles, the celebrity pig, is now a video game and meme coin
By Lane DeGregory, Times staff Tue, July 28, 2026 at 7:31 PM UTC
0
Two guys from New York decided separately to help fundraise for Waddles and pigs like him.
Waddles now has his own video game.
You can help the cartoon pig trot down a dirt path, leap fences and chase shade on his way to the courthouse.
He also has a cryptocurrency meme coin.
The “Waddles Official” token dropped Saturday, and three days later, it had already seen $2 million in trading.
The sunburned pig, whose animal cruelty case goes to court Wednesday, has reached a new level of celebrity.
Some investors are predicting Waddles could be “The next Jimothy” – Seattle’s round raccoon whose videos went viral. Or maybe become as big as New York’s beloved squirrel PNUT. Those animals’ crypto coins made millions for what are called “attention market” investors.
“We just wanted to promote Waddles’ story,” said Earl DeLand, 23, a house painter who created the coin. “And try to help with his upkeep. And other pigs.”
DeLand’s aunt, Connie Pavelich, adopted Waddles last summer. On Monday, DeLand flew from New York to Florida to visit her and livestream with the pig. He fed Waddles watermelon, showed potential token buyers that the potbelly — and his story — are real.
“It’s all about the narrative,” he said.
Waddles spent his first five years with a family in Seminole who adored him. But after two hurricanes, and losing their cleaning business, the family had to move last July. They surrendered their 350-pound pet to the SPCA Tampa Bay.
Two weeks later, someone called police, saying the pig had been baking in the summer sun for 10 days. Red, oozing blisters blanketed his pink skin.
Pinellas County Animal Control cited the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with animal cruelty — a rare charge.
If a judge rules against the SPCA this week, the shelter could lose its license.
Advertisement
When Kelly Dill, who runs Pork Butt Pastures, came to rescue Waddles last summer, he could barely move. Even his eyelids were sunburned. She helped him heal on her Plant City ranch, then called her friend Pavelich, who brought him to her 5-acre farm.
Waddles now shares a barn in Lithia with two other pigs. Pavelich plans to keep him forever. Pork Butt Pastures still helps with his vet bills and care.
On Monday, Pavelich’s nephew sent Pork Butt Pastures $15,000 — all the earnings from the token’s transfer fees so far. That’s three times more than any donation the nonprofit has ever received, Dill said.
“This is absolutely a blessing. It will help pay off my vet debt,” she said. She had barely heard of cryptocurrency when she got the call about the coin. She still doesn’t really understand how it works. “We’re just really grateful,” she said. Cryptocurrency can easily be converted to U.S. dollars.
More than 4 million TikTok viewers have watched Waddles. His story inspired petitions and protests, letters to elected officials, T-shirts and TV crews. Last week, he got his own lawyer.
Ryan Hill, a 37-year-old entrepreneur from New York, was scrolling through a crypto trading site called Pump.fun when he saw the big pig. The page is connected to a type of currency called Solana, which is similar to Bitcoin.
In the last couple of years, Hill said, Solana has added an option to send investment profits to fundraising sites — like a crypto GoFundMe. The post, which took the handle $waddles, includes a red heart next to the word charity.
Cryptocurrency trades like any stocks, Hill said. As they’re bought and sold, the coins change value. “It’s a very volatile market. There’s some gambling to it,” he said. Since the tokens are cheap — A penny could buy 185 Waddles coins Monday night — most people buy in bulk.
Hill purchased some, then decided to help promote the coin. “That pig had suffered so much injury due to negligence,” he said. “It seemed like a very worthy cause to get behind.”
In a few hours, using AI, he built an “endless runner” video game: Waddles’ Run: Road to Justice 3D. “Outrun the furious sun,” says the home page, which features a snarling sun with a pig snout. “Chase the shade, mud and water. Cool him off.”
Hill rated the game PG — the only scary part is the sunburn — and posted it free on his X account: @Thrill_Trades.
Then he showed it to the token developer he had never met. DeLand shared “Waddles’ Run” on his social media, under his handle XDogeSanta9830. The pig rescue posted it. So did Waddles’ new owner. Soon, people across the country were playing the game. And buying tokens.
“I never thought it would go this far,” DeLand said. “But now it’s turning into something really big.”
He hopes the coin will raise at least $250,000 to support the rescue, keep Waddles in watermelon and help save other abandoned pigs.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
