Pepe Coin: The improbable rise of an unlikely crypto contender

The crypto landscape has been a constant source of surprises, starting with the meteoric rise of Bitcoin that no one could have predicted and continuing with many other unexpected events like the emergence and hype created around non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the approval of spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The arrival of meme coins also makes the list, with their out-of-the-blue boom and strange magnetism. But it’s one meme coin in particular that has produced the biggest surprise of the group, causing both excitement and confusion in the crypto community. Just when everyone thought that the meme coin phenomenon was over and done with and that meme coins had nothing else to offer, the Pepe Coin (PEPE) came along, defying all expectations and reigniting the buzz surrounding this peculiar crypto niche. Since then, checking the Pepe Coin price prediction has become a common practice among market participants interested in this token and trying to decide if it’s worth investing in or not.

The sudden surge of the Pepe Coin is incomprehensible to many, given that meme coins are not exactly known for having solid structures, road maps, use cases, or any purpose for that matter. And yet, plenty of traders and investors flock to these assets, driving their prices up and creating crypto bubbles as their popularity increases. As a proud representative of its category, the Pepe Coin and its journey to stardom makes for a very interesting subject of study, so let’s dive right in and see how PEPE managed to attain such a high level of popularity and success.

The meme coin movement started in 2013 with the launch of the first meme token, Dogecoin. Its inventors had no other intention but to create a digital coin that made fun of the crypto frenzy at the time, which they found a bit exaggerated. Ironically, their experiment turned into a huge success and became part of the very phenomenon it was trying to mock.

Dogecoin’s near-instant fame spawned an entire generation of meme coins, many of which vanished as quickly as they appeared, leaving no trace behind. However, some of them, such as Shiba Inu and Bonk, stuck around, establishing themselves as viable crypto assets that people trade and invest in due to their potential for high returns.

Eventually, the meme coin craze died down, and the tokens pertaining to this niche left the spotlight. Some thought that this would be the end of the meme coin squad until Pepe Coin was launched in April 2023. In less than a month, the coin managed to reach a market capitalization of over $1 billion. To put things into perspective, Dogecoin achieved the same performance in approximately four years. At the time of writing, the Pepe Coin had a market cap of $10.54B, with year-to-date (YTD) gains of 1,833%.

Not much is known about Pepe’s developing team as its creators remain anonymous. What we do know is that they have done a great job at promoting their project on relevant social media platforms and thus capture the attention of numerous crypto enthusiasts.

Having no fundamentals and utility, meme coins derive their appeal from their comical nature and the association to well-known characters, figures and elements from internet culture, and one can hardly find a meme that’s more recognizable and representative of the meme concept than Pepe the Frog – the anthropomorphic frog whose imagery was used in the creation of the PEPE token.

Pepe the Frog is the brainchild of artist Matt Furie, being one of the characters in his comic book "Boy's Club”. In the late 2000s, Pepe’s presence across various websites, such as Myspace and Gaia Online, turned it into a wildly popular internet meme. After reaching the political sphere, its image became a source of controversy, but that only fueled its celebrity. PEPE’s creators took advantage of this renowned internet icon to propel its own rise to fame, and it appears their plan worked perfectly.

Recognizability alone can only take a crypto project so far, so Pepe’s ascent cannot be entirely attributed to the widespread popularity of the Pepe the Frog meme. The other ingredient that played a key role in Pepe Coin’s success is the fun online communities created on social media platforms that support the initiative and fuel its growth.

The Pepe Coin may have no specific goal, but it offers something that people find extremely valuable and compelling, namely the opportunity to be part of an active and dedicated community that offers a sense of belonging and common purpose. In the age of the internet, these communities have the power to advance concepts and projects they believe in and shape environments.

Ever since they emerged on the market, many have argued that meme coins are useless, speculative and risky, and for the most part, the criticism is justified. However, regardless of what other meme coins have claimed or accomplished before it, PEPE is a meme coin project that doesn’t pretend to be more than it actually is. It doesn’t promise to solve real-world problems or try to revolutionize the crypto market in any way.

Instead, it fully embraces the meme coin ethos of serving as a source of humor and entertainment in an otherwise serious and troubled market that still grapples with many issues.

At the same time, PEPE is underpinned by the Ethereum blockchain and borrows its attributes and advantages. Moreover, the Pepe coin boasts a deflationary mechanism that creates scarcity and employs a redistribution system to boost engagement among holders. That coupled with the lack of fees make PEPE a rather appealing asset that can easily compete with more established cryptos.

In the end, the Pepe Coin has proven that the meme coin market is not saturated. All it takes is a creative approach and a good strategy to rise above the rest and secure a stable spot in the crypto market.