A new viral meme coin is taking the crypto market by storm and it’s led by a weird-looking frog.

On April 19th, a new cryptocurrency project launched in homage to the well-loved Pepe the Frog. Pepe is a green, amphibious cartoon character that originated from a 2005 comic entitled The Boy’s Club, created by Matt Furie. 

Since then, it has become an iconic internet sensation, ubiquitous with the crypto community and leading social media platforms like Reddit and 4Chan. Countless meme iterations of the popular frog character now exist, from “Rage Pepe” and “Sad Pepe” to “Pepe Gigachad.”

Who created Pepe (PEPE)?

An unknown developer or group of developers created PEPE Coin. Like many other meme coin creators in the market, they have chosen to remain completely anonymous.

On the official PEPE website, the crypto project expressly mentions it has no affiliation with Pepe the Frog’s creator Matt Furie. The Pepe project and its native token simply exist as a fan-driven platform that seeks to further expand the utility and success of the famous frog.

What does Pepe (PEPE) do?

There doesn’t appear to be any additional functionality for PEPE as of yet, beyond the usual functions of cryptocurrencies. Namely, being a borderless, pseudonymous means of transacting value digitally.

The Pepe roadmap contains three separate launch phases. The creators have given no specific dates for when they will complete these phases, but they have stated more announcements are on the way:

• Initial launch phase: This includes CoinGecko and Coinmarketcap listings, and increasing the project’s social media presence.
• Community partnership and centralized crypto exchange (CEX) listing phase: Onboarding new partners, listing PEPE coins on CEXs, launching a dedicated newsletter, and opening a members-only Discord community.
• Pepe meme takeover phase: This stage introduces Pepe merch, new Pepe tools, and a Pepe Academy. The team also hopes to achieve more crypto exchange listings and increase the number of Pepe holders to over 100,000.

What blockchain is Pepe (PEPE) on?

PEPE Coin exists as an ERC-20 token built on top of the Ethereum blockchain. As a result, Ethereum’s network of proof-of-stake validators process PEPE Coin transactions.

Ethereum gas fees apply when buying, selling, and transferring PEPE coins.

The official PEPE token contract address is, 0x6982508145454ce325ddbe47a25d4ec3d2311933

PEPE price and tokenomics

On April 17, 2023, Pepe (ticker: PEPE) entered the crypto market. The opening price of Pepe native tokens was around $0.00000006036401729083.

By April 30, trading volume started to rise as news of the novel crypto project spread throughout social media. On May 05, 2023, PEPE reached its current all-time high of $0.000004213. This rally represented a 6,879% rise from its initial listing price.

The total token supply of PEPE coins is 420,690,000,000,000. There are currently 391,790,000,000,000 (~93%) PEPE tokens in circulation. The team sent these tokens to liquidity pools for trading, and burned (permanently destroyed) their liquidity provider tokens (LP tokens).

The creators of Pepe also added they’ve renounced their ownership of the contract. This decision means they purportedly no longer have any control over the cryptocurrency, including the ability to modify its code. This feature has become increasingly popular among crypto creators as a means of mitigating fears of rug pulls and other fraudulent activity. However, traders should not rely upon this exclusively and this does not mean that there aren’t any risks when dealing with these types of projects.

The remaining tokens are reportedly held by the creator(s) of the Pepe crypto project, in a multi-signature crypto wallet. According to the website, these tokens are set aside for future development and listing purposes.

“The remaining 6.9% of the supply is being held…only to be used as tokens for future centralized exchange listings, bridges, and liquidity pools. This wallet is easily trackable with the ENS name pepecexwallet.eth,” wrote the creator(s).

Pepe (PEPE) risks

When buying any meme coin project, not just PEPE, there are many risks that prospective buyers should know beforehand.

Anonymous creator(s)

Anonymous creators are synonymous with the cryptocurrency space. For example, the famous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, is still unknown to this day. With that said, this can be concerning for traders.

In the past, anonymous creators of virally popular crypto projects have stolen their users funds via rug pulls. A leading example of this was the Squid (SQUID) token scam in 2021. Piggybacking off the success of the popular Netflix show, Squid Game, the token, which wasn’t connected to the show, rose 35,000% in three days. Before people were aware of its shady backing, the anonymous team made off with over $2 million dollars. As a result, SQUID tokens quickly plummeted to zero on decentralized exchanges.

While this isn’t always the case with anonymous creators, it certainly pays to be mindful when approaching these kinds of projects.

Copycat projects

Copycat projects are common in crypto, not just within the meme coin sector. Scammers spin up new crypto projects to appear identical to other official platforms. Their intention is to lure buyers to their project. This deception may be to encourage them to buy their doppelgänger token instead, steal personal information, or infect their devices with malware.

It’s important for traders to be aware of these kinds of tricks.

Smart contract exploits

Smart contract exploits are a common risk with any type of cryptocurrency. Particularly those deployed in a DeFi liquidity pool. Without proper auditing, smart contracts may intentionally or accidentally contain flaws that a person could exploit for personal gain. These types of exploits often come at a loss for buyers.

Extremely high volatility

Because of their virality, popular meme coins can be prone to especially high price volatility. Dogecoin (DOGE) is a renowned example of this. In part, this is due to the sector’s reputation for being very high-risk but potentially high-reward. It’s true, some have successfully profited from the sharp price movements of meme coins. But equally, many traders have also lost out because of the wild price swings.

Pepe coin’s price has already experienced significant changes in price over its short lifespan. It’s entirely possible volatility could continue to increase as new features emerge and more traders join the market.

In summary, the Pepe (PEPE) cryptocurrency project has emerged as a unique and vibrant addition to the blockchain ecosystem. With its strong roots in meme culture and a passionate community, Pepe has managed to transcend its comic book origins and establish itself as a new — if still burgeoning — digital asset.