We’re not quite sure what to make of the fact that an official cryptocurrency exists for embattled Tiger King anti-hero Joe Exotic, but the internet seems to be going nuts over it. Whether its popularity coinciding with the release of the Netflix docuseries’ season two is due to sincere loyalty to the convicted attempted murderer or is simply a result of people being ironic — or perhaps a mix of both — is up to you to decide.
Exotic is a big cat wrangler convicted not only of attempted murder for trying to put a hit on arch-nemesis and fellow large feline handler Carol Baskin, but also animal abuse. Nevertheless, the sheer captivating strangeness of his character has made him a figure on the internet for which many people have found themselves cheering on. That’s due in no small part to Baskin being a magnate of scrutiny herself, for both alleged animal abuse and a rumor that she perhaps killed her husband.
With cryptocurrency operating in the somewhat shady world that it occasionally does, such as the “rug pull” scheme that bilked investors out of money from a Squid Game-inspired NFT earlier this month, how do we know Tiger King Coin, as it is called, is the officially endorsed product of Exotic? The apparent note of authenticity comes to us from none other than Exotic’s own lawyer, John Phillips, who has taken to Twitter to promote the coin as a means to in part help cover Exotic’s legal fees. The post was made by Phillips on his blue-checkmark-verified Twitter account.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the volume of the cryptocurrency has soared by more than 500% in the last 24-hours, coinciding with the release of the second season of the show, according to Coin Market Cap.
The Tiger King Coin is considered a meme coin and launched over the summer a few weeks after Baskin rolled out her own crypto, known as $CAT coin, according to The Sun.
You can watch season two of Tiger King on Netflix now.
