On Monday, September 2, an intriguing and instructive episode occurred in the U.S. market, once again demonstrating how meme-coin volatility seeps into traditional finance. Shares of Chinese agricultural supplier Farmmi (ticker: FAMI) on the Nasdaq exchange spiked more than 300% at one point—from $0.1187 to $0.50 per share. However, by the close of the trading session, the euphoria had faded: the final price settled at $0.1501, equivalent to a gain of 26.45%.
The cause of such a sharp, albeit short-lived, surge was the hype surrounding the meme-coin JINQIAN, launched within the Robinhood Chain ecosystem. As market participants on X noted, alongside the stock rally, there was incredible activity in the JINQIAN/FAMI trading pair. Daily trading volume in Farmmi shares soared to 867.2 million units, compared to a paltry 5.76 million the previous day. This is a classic example of how on-chain speculation creates the illusion of interest in a real business.
The connection to the "money mushroom"
The name of the JINQIAN token is no coincidence. In Farmmi's annual report, a variety of shiitake mushrooms—Jinqian, which translates to "money mushroom"—is mentioned. This became a trigger for degenerates in the crypto community, who saw it as the perfect story for a meme-coin. Within just an hour of its launch, JINQIAN's market capitalization reached $70 million. According to my data, one trader invested 8 ETH (~$19,000) into the asset and then sold the position for 82.54 ETH (~$198,000), netting a profit of about $179,000. Not bad returns for an hour, but such stories are more the exception than the rule.
Speculative manipulation or coincidence?
The situation is compounded by the fact that earlier, a crypto trader under the pseudonym Rune published a post claiming to have purchased 37.4% of the shares of an unnamed Nasdaq-listed company for $1.8 million. He planned to tokenize the securities on Robinhood Chain and launch a related meme-coin to trigger a short squeeze. However, Rune later admitted that the post was generated by the neural network Claude, and all the figures were "fabricated or exaggerated." Nevertheless, the community quickly matched the parameters to Farmmi, and the effect worked.
It is important to emphasize: the FAMI token, which appeared on Robinhood Chain, is not an official tokenized asset from Robinhood. It lacks a mechanism for pegging to real shares, meaning that buying the coin grants no rights to the company's securities. This is purely a speculative instrument, and I strongly advise investors to avoid such "clones" without confirmed issuance.
Farmmi's fundamental problems
It is worth noting that the issuer itself is in a dire state. On August 11, Nasdaq sent the company a notice of violation of the minimum bid price requirement—shares traded below $1 for more than 30 consecutive sessions. Farmmi was given until February 8, 2027, to rectify the situation. The financial dynamics are also bleak: for fiscal year 2025, revenue more than halved—from $64.1 million to $28 million—while net losses soared from $4.6 million to $53.4 million.
This case is a vivid example of how meme culture and on-chain trading can temporarily "revive" a dead stock but cannot change its fundamental trajectory. Investors should remember: behind such stories often lies not real demand, but short-term liquidity manipulation, and the consequences for unprepared participants can be devastating.