Pepe Coin, a new cryptocurrency, was launched into the market in April 2023 to compete with the likes of Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. The category of cryptocurrencies that Pepe Coin and its competitors are classified under is called the memecoin category. As the name explains, memecoins are cryptocurrencies inspired by elements of memes that become to trend over time on social networking platforms. This new entrant into the memecoin space is inspired by a cartooned frog that often finds its way on popular on internet memes with expressions tailored to depict the relatable feeling behind the meme.
The Arrival and Rise of Pepe Coin
Supported on the Ethereum blockchain, Pepe Coin, also signified as the $PEPE token, debuted in the crypto market on April 16, 2023. Its release came discreetly with no shout outs from influencers or planned airdrops of free PEPE tokens to the winners of social media contests.
The developers of this coin, who remain anonymous, have put in place a ‘no tax policy’ on PEPE that makes it appealing to small and experimentative investors. This means investors trading in Pepe Coins will not be charged a gas fee for Pepe transactions.
The Pepe Coin ecosystem also comes with a rewarding process for long-term stakers as well as a timely mechanism for burning some reserves to maintain the desired scarcity. The token has a pre-set circulating supply of 391,790,000,000,000 tokens.
Well, these factors soon began drawing meme-enthusiastic crypto investors to buy some Pepe Coins, even if it held just a novelty value, because of its iconic meme character inspiration.
At the time of its launch in April, PEPE stepped into the trading arena at its first price of $0.000000001 (roughly Rs. 0.000000083).
In the first seventeen days of its launch, the PEPE token spiked by 7,000 percent, reportedly touching a market cap of $1.8 billion by May 5.
One month and three days after its launch, PEPE is trading at $0.000001514 (roughly Rs. 0.00013), as per CoinMarketCap as of Friday, May 19.
Interestingly however, $1.8 billion (roughly Rs. 14,890 crore) in capitalisation that Pepe Coin sat at by May 5 soon fell to its current valuation of $597.9 million (roughly Rs. 4,950 crore) as market conditions turned tumultuous amid US’ economic slowdown.
The Redflags and Speculations
In the crypto circle, excited investors often get carried away in the pomp and show around new cryptocurrencies and end up investing money on random coins, wishing to luckily crack into the next ‘to the moon’ cryptocurrency.
After the popularity of Pepe Coins began making it to the headlines, it stirred intrigue among people, many of whom began to speculate if Pepe Coin is some kind of a scam project.
The creators of this coin being anonymous, the unprecedented price soar it recorded in days, and its quick downfall valuation-wise began contributing as factors that led to the suspicion of Pepe Coin potentially being a rug-pull scam in the making.
In rug pulls, scammers launch random crypto tokens and allow these tokens to pump as high as possible. Once their target capital is reeled-in from the investors, they abandon the projects with the collection leaving investors high and dry.
The Present Situation and Comparison with DOGE, SHIB
While mammoth crypto exchanges like Binance and CoinMarketCap have already listed the Pepe token on their platforms for trade, some people still remain sceptical about engaging with $PEPE, at least for the time being.
The frenzy around this altcoin maddened more after Elon Musk recently posted a random meme featuring Pepe the Frog.
Musk followers were quick to point out that this subtle acknowledgement from Musk could pump Pepe and affect Musk’s famously favourite memecoin, DOGE.
Neither Dogecoin nor Shiba Inu, meanwhile, have managed to show any significant price changes in the last one year.
At the time of writing, DOGE was trading at $0.082 (roughly Rs. 6.8), while SHIB was valued at $0.0000087 (roughly Rs. 0.000718), as per Gadgets 360’s crypto price tracker.
Just over a month since its launch, the rise of the Pepe Coin still remains a topic for sceptics to keep an eye out for.
Industry experts have resounded their suggestion for investors to exercise extreme caution before investing in cryptocurrencies without conducting due diligence.
Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.