A Solana-based memecoin previously launched in honor of Jonathan, a beloved 193-year-old tortoise believed to be the oldest living land animal, rallied on Wednesday after news spread of his alleged passing.

But as it turns out, Jonathan is alive and well, and the rumors were tied to an April Fools' Day joke on X.

$JONATHAN hit a high of approximately $0.00038 on Wednesday, a near 1,400% jump in the span of just an hour, according to CoinMarketCap’s DEX screener. It has since fallen back to the $0.00071 level.

The token rallied after an account on X impersonated Jonathan’s veterinarian, Joe Hollins, posting a message in memorial. In a separate, since-deleted post confirming the April Fools' trick, the fake @JoeHollinsVet account linked to a Solana contact address for the token. 

“1.7 million views is crazy on a post about Jonathan dying today. Yes, he's still alive. Did anyone send crypto? Yes, @oldestanimal. He's been passionate about Jonathan for over a year. This was just an April Fool's prank,” the account wrote.

Several trusted information sources had amplified the news of Jonathan’s death, including Wikipedia and the BBC, which noted Jonathan had met Queen Elizabeth II and other dignitaries during his long life. 

However, the story was quickly debunked. Both Governor of St. Helena Nigel Phillips and veterinarian Hollins weighed in to confirm Jonathan was still alive. A community note on X claimed the alleged impersonator was based in Brazil and using a U.S. VPN.

“We've been in touch with Joe Hollins (who isn't actually on X), and he has confirmed Jonathan is alive and well," British Overseas Territories spokesperson Robert Midgley posted in response to the hoax post on X. “This account is fake, please ignore.”

Memecoin games

It’s not uncommon for tricksters to launch memecoins in an effort to exploit social media frenzies.

Low-volume and low float tokens can rapidly pump with the introduction of just a little liquidity. JONATHAN, with just a $73,000 fully diluted value and $22,000 in liquidity, rallied after its daily volume spiked to nearly $640,000, according to DEX Screener. 

JONATHAN, however, is somewhat different in that the token appears to have been created eight months ago via memecoin generator Pump.fun.

The token hit a previous all-time high on March 23 after months of grinding upwards, after which it collapsed in price until the April Fools prank on Wednesday.

An X account tied to the token has posted AI-generated tortoise memes fairly regularly since it was created in early March.