The crypto market is back in bullish fever, and Pepe is leading the way among the ‘big three’ meme coins.
Can its momentum continue and potentially catch Shiba Inu?
Pepe Gains Pace On SHIB, Strong Rally Expected in 2025
Last cycle, Shiba Inu and Dogecoin outperformed. During this cycle, Pepe has led the way.
In the past 24 hours, Pepe is up 3.4%, Shiba Inu is up 2.3%, and Dogecoin is down 1.8%. Pepe has also outperformed on higher time scales. It’s up 1,180% in the past year, while Shiba Inu is up 91% and Dogecoin is up 67%.
The so-called “Dogecoin Millionaire” Glauber Contessoto set the tone for Pepe’s bullish outlook by saying that “anything involving Pepe” will be most popular in the 2025 bull run.
Given that this is Pepe’s first bull market, it’s no surprise that traders are paying close attention.
This time last cycle, the SHIB’s market cap was a fraction of Pepe’s today. In fact, it took SHIB just over one month to pull a 17x to its $0.00008845 ATH.
Regarding meme coins, momentum can pick up anytime and provide staggering growth. And considering Pepe has outperformed Shiba Inu and Dogecoin this year, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect similar explosive gains.
Something else to consider is that Pepe currently has the highest trading volume among all meme coins, currently at $770 million in the past 24 hours. This shows that Pepe is favored among market participants.
The consensus among most traders is that the crypto market will see bullish momentum in Q4 of 2024 and through 2025. This is based on historical data of Q4 being a strong quarter for crypto, combined with the Bitcoin halving effect, which has triggered bull markets in the past.
For the uninitiated, the Bitcoin halving occurred in April, and typically, the positive impact on crypto prices begins six months later.
So, if the market performs as expected and Pepe continues to outperform Shiba Inu and Dogecoin, there’s a good chance it will close the gap on SHIB this cycle.
In terms of price, where does this land it?
Analyst InvestingHaven predicts a move to $0.0001770 by 2025. From its current price of $0.0000081, this equates to a 2,085% gain.
That would place its market cap at around $70 billion, rivaling Dogecoin’s ATH.
Meanwhile, analysts from Challengly predict a potential high of $0.0000281 by the end of 2025. That’s a more conservative target, translating to a 246% gain.
Evidently, predictions of how far Pepe can go vary wildly, reflecting the unpredictable nature of meme coins.
But given its relative strength and the broader market’s positive outlook, a middle ground may be Shiba Inu’s ATH market cap of around $40 billion.
This would be optimistic yet plausible. It would translate to just over 10x gains from its current price.
While that’s a solid return, the biggest gains on meme coins are found by investing early. For example, those who bought Pepe in April 2023 would now be up over 14,000%
So, are there any new projects that could be the next Pepe?
Pepe Unchained might be the answer. The project is undergoing a presale and has raised over $14 million on plans to build the first Pepe-themed Ethereum layer 2 blockchain.
Pepe Unchained Presale Raises $14M, Analyst Says It’s the “Next Pepe”
Pepe Unchained is causing a storm for a project still in its presale.
Just yesterday, it crossed the $14 million mark in total raised, and it is now sitting at $14.3 million.
Investors are pouring in to participate in the first Pepe-themed Ethereum layer 2 blockchain from the beginning. The project is creating a scalable meme coin ecosystem connected to Ethereum with a dedicated bridge.
Like Ethereum, the ‘Pepe Chain’ will also have a staking mechanism and block explorer. However, the it will be 100x faster and much cheaper than Ethereum.
Pepe is the best-performing major meme coin of this cycle. Now, it has its own blockchain, and the $PEPU token will underpin it all.
The Pepe Unchained team just announced it’ll launch a developer grant program in Q4 to incentivize building within its ecosystem. It also revealed it is in talks with tier-1 exchanges.
This has got analysts buzzing. Umar Khan from 99Bitcoins says it “is going to be the next Pepe,” and it has 100x potential.
“It’s a great alternative for Pepe and a solid investment opportunity,” he said.
It’s the last chance for investors to buy $PEPU at its current price of $0.00982.
This will rise throughout the presale, with the next increase in one day.
