History of Pepe Coin
The history of Pepe Coin (PEPE)
is a story of a meme-inspired cryptocurrency that experienced a rapid, viral
rise in the crypto market in 2023. Here is a summary of its key
historical points: Origin and Launch (April 2023) Inspiration: Pepe Coin is an ERC-20 token on the
Ethereum blockchain inspired by the popular internet meme "Pepe the
Frog," originally created by artist Matt Furie in 2005.2
The crypto project is not affiliated with Matt Furie. Launch Date: The
token was first minted and launched around April 14, 2023, by an
initially anonymous team. Mission: It was positioned as a
simple memecoin with the goal of "making meme coins great again,"
following the success of dog-themed coins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.5
The team stressed it has no intrinsic value or expectation of financial
return.Tokenomics: The total supply was set at a meme-inspired figure: $420,690,000,000,000$ PEPE.A large portion (93.1%) was sent to
a Uniswap liquidity pool, with the tokens burnt and the contract renounced.9
The remaining 6.9% was held for centralized exchange listings. Rapid Rise and Milestones (April - May 2023) Explosive Growth: After its launch, PEPE quickly
gained attention and saw a rapid surge in price and trading volume on
decentralized exchanges like Uniswap. Market Cap Milestones:It
passed a $100 million
market capitalization by April 19, 2023. It later surpassed a $1
billion market cap in early May 2023, following major listings on centralized
exchanges. Exchange Listings: A key factor in its dramatic
rise was the rapid listing on major centralized exchanges, including MEXC
Global, Bitget, Gate.io, OKX, and notably, Binance (which listed PEPE in
its Innovation Zone on May 5, 2023). Controversy and Internal Strife (May - August 2023) Coinbase Controversy (May 2023): Coinbase issued a
newsletter that described the Pepe the Frog meme as having been "co-opted
as a hate symbol," leading to community backlash and calls for a boycott
of the exchange.15 Coinbase later issued an apology. Multi-Sig
Wallet Incident (August 2023): In a major setback, approximately 16
trillion PEPE tokens (valued at about $15 million at the time) were
unexpectedly moved from the project's multi-sig wallet to exchanges.16
The team later revealed that this was the act of three disgruntled former
team members who had stolen the funds.17 This event caused
significant turmoil and a price drop, leading the remaining team to take steps
to restore confidence, including token burns and bringing on new advisors.
Current Status Pepe Coin remains a prominent meme coin, frequently ranking
among the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, largely driven by its
strong community and the viral nature of the Pepe the Frog meme
