jakiro
Author: David C, Bankless; Compilation: Baishui, Bitchain Vision
Up more than 100% this month and up more than 1100% so far this year, with PEPE soaring to the third largest memecoin position with a market cap of up to $6.2 billion.
Since its launch in April 2023, the infamous frog has had a significant impact on the Ethereum memecoin ecosystem and has become one of the most consensus games this cycle so far.
In this article, let’s take a look at the initial development of PEPE and then dive into its recent rise and related matters.
The history of PEPE
In April last year, PEPE made its mission to replace DOGE, with its token supply reaching a maximum of 420.69T.
PEPE is one of the most famous emoticons on the Internet, and its rise can be traced back to cultural significance first.Although originally a non-political figure created by cartoonist Matt Furie, Pepe was chosen as the right-wing emoticon, showing the dark side of online culture.Fast forward nearly a decade, Pepe the Frog has basically faded out of the controversy and is still a fixed content on crypto Twitter.
at the same time,PEPE has always claimed clear links to MAGA culture, the PEPE team often mentions this on social media and websites.As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently tried to align with the cryptocurrency circle through dedicated activities and policy commitments, the PEPE team tried to translate this development into a narrative driving force for token growth.
For this recent surge, it is more important that the Ethereum ETF approves this very important political development, which has boosted the trend of related blockchains and tokens.As memecoin, which stands out in the ETH cycle, PEPE continues to win a big victory.
Many people question whether PEPE can surpass its previous heights.
In early May 2023, its market capitalization had reached $1.5 billion.By August 24, 2023, a multi-signature wallet of the team unexpectedly transferred 16 trillion PEPE tokens to the exchange, frightening holders and causing a sell-off.Originally attributed to the hack, PEPE’s Twitter revealed that the change was due to internal turmoil in the team, not theft.The token has been affected this way for the rest of the year until it started to rise again in February.
With its recent surge, the token has climbed to the top of memecoin, with a current market value of over $6 billion.
Just as a rising Dogecoin boosts all puppy tokens, the surge in PEPE has also boosted a range of Pepe-related competitors.
While most derivatives are gradually disappearing, some have emerged, such as APU, a community token that has stood the test of developers and currently has a market capitalization of $215 million.
Perhaps more interesting is competitor PepeCoin, which predated PEPE, launched in March 2016 as a custom L1 blockchain and migrated to ETH in April 2023.Unlike PEPE, PepeCoin’s goal is to build an emerging technology ecosystem, including dApps such as Pepe Paint (MS-Paint-style NFT creator) and Pepe Messenger (wallet-to-wallet communication tool).
The continued growth of PEPE is a testament to the strength of memecoins in this recent cycle, as well as the continued strength of ETH-based assets.
This cycle has witnessed multiple waves of memecoin activity, but the most watched wins are often based on Solana’s tokens such as WIF or BONK.The appeal of memecoin based on ETH L2 has attracted attention to memecoin fields on networks such as Base, but in all of these appeals, it is still difficult to compete with L1.
The Future of PEPE
The rise of PEPE has experienced dramatic climaxes and difficult troughs.
From a meme that has no practicality to… it is still a meme that has no practicality, but it is now also the top 20 tokens. The cultural significance, political connections of PEPE and the consolidation of the title of Ethereum memeIt is not only the leading meme coin, but also the leading token this cycle.
However, as we have seen time and time again, there are few tokens in cryptocurrencies that only rise but not fall, even a leading meme like DOGE, which fell from a market cap high of $75.26 billion to 70 in the previous cycle$100 million.
Given the current size of PEPE, achieving “incredible” returns from now on can be difficult.While derivatives may offer higher room for growth, they also take higher risks due to their lower market cap.
Although its biggest gain may have passed,Scale, growing activities and a strong consensus statusIt is wise to make investors think twice before staying away from this frog.
