Released in mid-April 2023, PEPE is an example of a meme coin, albeit of a different variety than the often popular Doge or Shiba Inu tokens. Memecoins, cryptocurrencies based on Internet memes and generally popularized and promoted by influencers or important figures in the space such as Elon Musk, have attracted the attention of investors and eyes for a perceived lack of seriousness. But the potential for investors to make big profits with memecoins is real nonetheless. Next, we take a closer look at PEPE. Note that there are several meme cryptocurrencies with similar names; we focus specifically on $PEPE here.
Launch of PEPE
PEPE’s official Twitter account describes the token as the “most memeable memecoin out there,” adding that “the dogs have had their day,” referring to a previous generation of memecoins, including the once-popular Dogecoin.
PEPE launched on April 17 with little enthusiasm. It is based on the Pepe the Frog meme, originally created by Matt Furie in 2005 and has previously been associated with the alt-right political movement, among other trends. Like several other Pepe the Frog-based tokens, PEPE has no official connection to Furie or the original cartoon character.
Other aspects of PEPE point to its position as a memecoin, including the fact that the circulating supply of PEPE tokens is 420 million, a reference to “4/20” cannabis culture.
interest boom
The process of calling an Ethereum smart contract and launching a token is cheap and easy, although generating liquidity can be a more difficult challenge. In the early days of its existence, PEPE quickly rose to prominence due to a high-profile purchase that wowed the cryptocurrency community on Twitter.
A memecoin investor exchanged 0.125 ETH, valued at around $250, for an impressive 5.9 billion PEPE tokens. As interest in the memecoin grew, the value of those tokens skyrocketed to about $1.8 million by April 19, 2023, generating a potential return of approximately 4,500 times the initial investment. Perhaps not surprisingly, the prospect of a quick profit attracted tens of thousands of other investors hoping to hoard PEPE tokens before the price hit an upper limit.
However, it is important to note that the investor who bought those 5.9 billion tokens may find it difficult to sell them at the current price, given PEPE’s relatively low liquidity pool.
PEPE’s future
So early after its release, PEPE’s future remains uncertain. Some experts, including DFG crypto fund founder James Wo, say that “[memecoins] are important parts of the cryptocurrency trading landscape whether we like it or not,” and that memecoins like PEPE are likely to keep popping up. But PEPE itself can succumb to the fate of many fleeting memecoins that have come before it, including Grimacecoin , Pump Coin, and many others, only to fade from public view before long. In that case, the question for investors, including the person who has close to 6 billion PEPE, will be whether they can make a profit from the token before the crypto community’s attention turns elsewhere.
