Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has pledged a donation of 10 million Thai baht (around $300,000) to the Khao Kheow Open Zoo near Bangkok to help develop a dedicated exhibit for Moo Deng, a five-month-old pygmy hippo. The funds will go toward improving the zoo’s operations and creating a special habitat for Moo Deng and her family.

Buterin shared the news in a Thursday post on X, explaining that he had accepted an invitation to become Moo Deng’s “adoptive father” when she matures. The donation is a thank-you for the warm reception he received during the Ethereum developer conference in Thailand in November and is also a “Christmas gift” to Moo Deng, who has become a beloved figure in Thailand and an unlikely global sensation.

Moo Deng, whose name means “bouncy pork” in Thai, went viral earlier this year after images of her spread widely across the internet. She has two siblings: Moo Toon (“stewed pork”) and Moo Waan (“sweet pork”). Her internet fame led to the creation of a memecoin, MOODENG, on the Solana blockchain. The token quickly rose in popularity, reaching a market cap of over $600 million in November after being listed on major exchanges like Binance and Coinbase.

MOODENG was the first memecoin based on an animal other than a dog or cat to gain significant trading volume and is considered the first memecoin to come from Thailand. However, its value has since dropped by 60%, with Moo Deng’s fame still largely centered in Thailand and neighboring regions.