BlockBeats report: On August 4, a research team from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) raised funds for long-term wildlife research through an OnlyFans account named 'OnlyMarms,' unexpectedly drawing attention from the crypto community, with several related Solana meme coins already emerging.
This project, which has been tracking Colorado groundhogs since 1962, is one of the longest-running wildlife studies in the world. Due to declining traditional research funding, the research team launched the OnlyMarms account, attracting subscribers with humorous, uncensored groundhog content to support their science.
Currently, OnlyMarms has raised approximately $4,000, but the project still requires $75,000 to $100,000 annually to support graduate students and field research.
Meanwhile, several meme coins inspired by OnlyMarms have emerged within the Solana ecosystem. However, these tokens were created voluntarily by the community; the issuers' identities remain unknown, and no official connection has been established with the UCLA research team. The lead researcher stated that the team did not create any related tokens.
This event is regarded as a case where internet culture, science communication, and the crypto community converge. Previously, the Solana ecosystem also saw meme coins driven by viral internet animals, such as the token based on the popular hippopotamus Moo Deng in 2024, which briefly reached a market capitalization of approximately $680 million.