Tiger King launches meme token from prison to fund legal battle
From presidential candidate to crypto meme coin creator
Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic from the viral Netflix docuseries Tiger King, has launched a meme token from behind bars, where he is serving time for attempting to hire a hitman to kill animal rights activist Carole Baskin, with whom he had a longstanding feud.
While celebrity tokens are nothing new in the crypto world, Tiger King (EXOTIC) is believed to be the first-ever token launched on behalf of an incarcerated individual.
According to Cryptopolitan, the 62-year-old former zoo owner of the G.W. Zoo instructed his lawyers to initiate the token launch to raise funds amid mounting legal expenses. Exotic recently had his sentence reduced by 12 months, bringing his total sentence down to 21 years—but he still failed to prove his innocence in court.
Exotic has promised to donate a portion of the token’s proceeds to children, wildlife conservation, and other charitable causes.
From presidential candidate to crypto meme coin creator
Joe Exotic rose to fame in the 2010s through his online zoo talk shows and tiger cub petting events across the U.S. In 2016, he ran for president as an independent candidate, gaining attention for his eccentricity and openly nontraditional lifestyle.
In 2018, to the shock of his fanbase, Exotic was arrested for allegedly orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot against his longtime critic Carole Baskin. He was convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison. In 2022, his sentence was reduced by one year, though his conviction still stands.
Meme coin to maintain relevance
The EXOTIC token was launched on a relatively unknown launchpad called pumpkin.fun, and its market cap surged to around $900,000 before dipping to just over $100,000. According to blockchain data, the token currently has around 900 holders, which seems to satisfy its creator.
“I gotta say, I’m impressed by how strong my coin is holding while the market crashes. It shows that $EXOTIC is here to stay. Just wait till you see what it does with what we’ve built,” he wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
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According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Joe Exotic is currently held at FMC Fort Worth, a federal medical center and administrative-security facility. He stays connected with the outside world via phone calls, podcasts, and X Spaces, where he updates fans and continues to maintain his public presence.
Although he admits his real-world experience with crypto is limited, Exotic claims to have learned a lot about the industry from other inmates.
He also refers to himself as a "political prisoner" and has made it clear that he hopes to be released well before his official release date of 2039, using his continued media presence to stay in the spotlight.
As we wrote, legal scrutiny surrounding Argentina’s President Javier Milei is intensifying as Judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado leads an investigation into his alleged involvement in the LIBRA meme coin scandal.
