UCLA groundhog researchers turn to OnlyFans for funding, sparking Solana meme coins

Huo Xing Cai Jing reports that on August 4, a research team from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) recently launched an OnlyFans account, “OnlyMarms,” to raise funds for long-term wildlife research—and unexpectedly attracted attention from the crypto community, with several related Solana meme coins already emerging. The project, which has been tracking yellow-bellied marmots in Colorado since 1962, is one of the longest-running wildlife studies in the world. Due to declining traditional research funding, the team created the OnlyMarms account, using humorous, unmoderated marmot content to attract subscribers and support their work. To date, OnlyMarms has raised approximately $4,000, but the project still requires $75,000 to $100,000 annually to fund graduate student support and field research. Meanwhile, multiple Solana-based meme coins inspired by OnlyMarms have emerged. However, these tokens were created independently by the community; their issuers remain unknown, and no official connection has been established with the UCLA research team. The lead researcher stated that the team has not created any related tokens. This incident is seen as an example of the convergence of internet culture, science communication, and the crypto community. Previously, the Solana ecosystem has also seen meme coins driven by viral animals—such as the 2024 token based on the internet-famous hippopotamus Moo Deng, which once reached a market cap of approximately $680 million.