Former TradFi trader receives memecoin gift that grows to nearly $1 million and donates it to charity

Richard E. Ptardio, an Essex-based former traditional finance trader now focusing on crypto, donated a memecoin lot bearing his likeness that ballooned to nearly $1 million in value.

Onchain data shows that someone sent Ptardio 700 million tokens of the memecoin PTARDIO, which appears to have originated from the memecoin launchpad Pump.fun, on Dec. 17. Ptardio shared screenshots of his PTARDIO holdings growing first to $54,000, then to around $995,000 as the memecoin's price increased. PTARDIO's price rose to a height of $0.0068 before falling back down.

Ptardio decided to give away his PTARDIO holdings rather than keep them, following other high-profile individuals donating memecoin gifts to charity.

"Discussed this matter over luncheon with Mrs. Ptardio, and we are in agreement: whoever created this coin did so entirely without my knowledge or consent," Ptardio wrote on the social media platform X Tuesday.

"As such, I wish to distance myself from this project forthwith," he added. "I shall be selling my position and donating the entire proceeds to Save the Children. A far better use of the funds, I think you'll agree!"

Save the Children is a humanitarian nonprofit providing educational, health, protection and other programs to benefit children across 100 countries. Ptardio said he sent 313.42 SOL, worth around $69,000, to the charity.

The Block reached out to Richard Ptardio for additional comment.

In October, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin received a batch of the memecoin MOODENG, inspired by the viral pygmy hippo of the same name, valued at $182,000 at the time. Buterin swapped MOODENG for ETH before giving it to a charity fighting airborne illnesses, noting that individuals should give memecoins directly to charity, The Block previously reported.