PEPE, one of the top memecoins, has experienced a significant rise in value this month, with a more than 100% increase. Its value has also risen over 1100% since the beginning of the year, reaching a market cap of $6.2 billion.
Since its launch in April 2023, this infamous frog has had a major impact on the Ethereum memecoin ecosystem and has become one of the most popular games in the current cycle.
Let’s take a look at the origin and recent rise of PEPE in this article.
PEPE’s Journey
In April of last year, PEPE emerged with a mission to replace DOGE, with its token supply reaching a peak of 420.69T. PEPE is one of the most famous memes on the internet, and its rise can be attributed to its cultural significance. Originally created by cartoonist Matt Furie as a non-political character, Pepe became associated with right-wing memes, showcasing the dark side of internet culture. Over the past decade, Pepe the Frog has largely faded from controversy but remains a staple on Crypto Twitter.
At the same time, PEPE has claimed a clear connection to the MAGA culture, with the PEPE team frequently mentioning this on social media and websites. With Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently attempting to align with the cryptocurrency community through dedicated events and policy commitments, the PEPE team has tried to capitalize on this development to drive token growth.
The recent surge in value may be attributed to the approval of the Ethereum ETF, a significant political development that has boosted the trends of related blockchains and tokens. As a standout memecoin in the ETH cycle, PEPE continues to thrive.
Many have questioned whether PEPE can surpass its previous highs. By early May 2023, its market cap had reached $1.5 billion. However, on August 24, 2023, the team’s multi-signature wallet unexpectedly transferred 16 trillion PEPE tokens to an exchange, causing panic among holders and leading to sell-offs. Initially attributed to a hack, PEPE’s Twitter revealed that the change was due to internal turmoil within the team rather than theft. This incident had a lasting impact on the token’s value until it began to rise again in February.
With its recent surge, the token has climbed to the top of the memecoin charts, with a market cap exceeding $6 billion.
Similar to how the rise of Dogecoin boosted all dog-related tokens, PEPE’s surge has also lifted a range of competitors associated with Pepe. While most derivatives have faded away, some have stood out, such as APU, a community token with a current market cap of $215 million.
Perhaps more interesting is PepeCoin, a competitor that predates PEPE. It was launched as a custom L1 blockchain in March 2016 and migrated to ETH in April 2023. Unlike PEPE, PepeCoin aims to establish an emerging tech ecosystem, including Pepe Paint (an MS-Paint-style NFT creator) and Pepe Messenger (a wallet-to-wallet communication tool) as dApps.
PEPE’s continued growth demonstrates the strong power of memecoins in this current cycle, as well as the sustained strength of ETH-based assets.
This cycle has witnessed multiple waves of memecoin activity, with the most notable victories often being Solana-based tokens such as WIF or BONK. The appeal of memecoins based on ETH L2 has attracted attention to memecoin space on networks like Base. However, it remains challenging to compete with L1 networks.
The future of PEPE
PEPE’s rise has been marked by dramatic highs and challenging lows. From a completely useless meme coin to… still a completely useless meme coin, but now also a top 20 token, PEPE’s cultural significance, political associations, and its title as an Ethereum meme have solidified its position as a leading meme coin and token in this cycle.
However, as we have seen time and time again in the cryptocurrency world, few tokens only rise without experiencing a fall, even for leading memes like DOGE, which dropped from a peak market cap of $75.26 billion to $7 billion in the last cycle.
Given the current size of PEPE, achieving “incredible” returns from this point forward may be challenging. While derivatives may offer higher growth potential, they also come with higher risks due to their lower market cap.
Although its biggest surge may be behind it, its size, increasing activity, and strong consensus position make it wise for investors to think twice before moving away from this frog.
Tags:
Bankless
MEME
PEPE
Ethereum
Jinse Finance