The newly introduced memecoin Pepe (PEPE) has experienced a sharp 42% decline in value just days after reaching its all-time high on May 6, leading to significant paper losses for at least one investor.
Blockchain analytics service Lookonchain revealed that a crypto “whale” purchased 962.3 billion Pepe tokens using 70 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and 470 Ether (ETH) at an average price of $0.000003122 on May 5. CoinGecko data shows that since then, PEPE’s value has dropped by 42% from its all-time high, leaving the investor with an estimated $2.4 million in holdings and over $600,000 in unrealized losses.
Pepe’s market capitalization and popularity
Despite the recent price drop, Pepe’s market capitalization remains above $1 billion, ranking it the 45th largest cryptocurrency by valuation.
Since its inception on April 14, Pepe has garnered significant attention, with trading volumes exceeding $636 million in the last 24 hours and over 5,000 ETH burned in Uniswap trading gas fees as of May 5. Data from Dune Analytics indicates that the number of individual Pepe holders has consistently increased over the past three weeks, reaching 144,534 at the time of publication.
The rise of memecoins has caused fees on the Bitcoin network to soar to two-year highs due to a massive spike in BRC-20-related transactions. Memecoins like Dogecoin have been part of the cryptocurrency landscape since 2013. However, their lack of fundamentals makes investing in them a high-risk trading strategy, creating and destroying fortunes equally.
