In recent years, the Meme track in the cryptocurrency industry has emerged as a rising force. With the intentional or unintentional promotion from well-known figures like Elon Musk, Meme has become one of the mainstream tracks and popular narratives in the crypto world. Many influential cryptocurrency Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), represented by Vitalik Buterin, initially did not support Meme but have now softened their attitudes and acknowledged its value.
Recently, the market value of the popular Meme “Spicy Chicken” Pepe has reached over $4 billion, reaching a peak of over $7 billion in this round of the Meme market. Many people still find Pepe confusing, so today let’s explore how Pepe has come to where it is today.
Pepe’s Meme Culture
Looking at the development of Memecoins, most of them are based on materials with certain historical origins or existing popularity in the online world, and Pepe is no exception. Its name comes from the character Pepe the Frog created by American cartoonist Matt Furie, who first appeared in his work “Boy’s Club.”
This comic series started serializing on MySpace in 2005 and ended in 2010, gaining some attention on the internet. Among the four characters in the comic, Pepe the Frog is one of them, winning love with its cute image and funny expressions. If you are more involved in the blockchain world, you may also see three other Memecoins related to the names Brett, Andy, and Wolf, which have all been speculated before.
Pepe’s rise to fame followed a similar path to many internet sensations: it initially became popular in subcultures like 4chan and other niche groups, and then caught the attention of social media opinion leaders (KOLs) and went viral. It gained popularity on cultural forums like Myspace, Gaia Online, and 4chan in 2008, and became one of the most popular viral images on the social platform Tumblr in 2015.
On social media, the cost of creating and spreading content is relatively low, allowing Pepe’s emoticons and internet Memes that cover all emotions to quickly spread and resonate among netizens. It initially started as a character expressing joy but gradually evolved into a symbol of sadness and gloominess through the internet users’ creativity and reinterpretations. This transformation is related to the popularity of self-deprecating and self-mocking in internet culture.
People found resonance in Pepe’s sad image and used it as a way to express their inner emotions, especially for self-ridicule and expressing life’s difficulties and setbacks. This emoticon has been widely used and has become an important symbol in internet culture. The Sad Frog is also popular in Chinese internet culture and has been selected as one of the “Four Great Emblems of Desolation,” becoming an important symbol for expressing negative emotions and a sense of misery.
The evolution of Pepe’s image on the internet is quite complex and multifaceted.
In 2015, the Sad Frog became associated with racial remarks and the U.S. presidential election, being used to spread extremist messages. Some supporters of Donald Trump adopted Pepe as their symbol and associated it with anti-political correctness and anti-establishment sentiments. This led to Pepe being misunderstood as a symbol of the “Alt-right” and racial hatred.
This misunderstanding further exacerbated the negative impression of Pepe’s image, and in order to prevent further tarnishing, Matt Furie, the creator of Pepe, chose to “kill” Pepe.
In fact, even though the Sad Frog is “dead,” it still remains popular among internet users. As a widely used emoticon, anyone can freely use it to express their inner emotions, including sadness or frustration.
Pepe Token
Thanks to the rapid rise in popularity of Pepe the Frog and extensive media exposure, Pepe Token (PEPE) was born in April 2023. It quickly became one of the investment targets for many cryptocurrency enthusiasts. In just one month, the market value of PEPE exceeded $400 million, entering the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
The creation of PEPE aimed to resist the complex token economic models of “dog series” Memecoins. It aimed to return to the entertaining spirit of Memecoins, avoiding complex operations such as presales, burning, and taxation in its token economics. The goal of PEPE is to surpass other Memecoins and become a leader in the Memecoin field.
Furthermore, PEPE drew inspiration from former U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” and adapted it to “Make Memecoins Great Again.”
PEPE’s market operation adopts some strategies to attract attention from the cryptocurrency community, including implementing tax-exempt policies, rewarding long-term holders through redistribution systems, and implementing a deflationary mechanism through token burning to maintain the scarcity of the token. PEPE is closely connected to MAGA (Make America Great Again) culture and attempts to transform this development into a narrative driving token growth.
Currently, PEPE’s development has exceeded the team’s expectations. After being listed on BN and undergoing adjustments, it began to rise again. Its market value recently surpassed $7 billion but has since experienced a slight decline. This recent surge may be related to Trump’s comments on cryptocurrency. From the above understanding, we can see that Pepe’s development has some connection with Trump.
Why Pepe Rose to Prominence
Before PEPE, there were many other Memecoins, but only Pepe has reached its current height. Let’s briefly summarize how PEPE has come to where it is today:
During its initial launch, PEPE attracted the attention of some big investors and teams. These investors analyzed the flow of funds in decentralized exchanges (DEX) and discovered the potential of PEPE, leading them to establish positions. In addition, some early buyers also held NFTs related to PEPE, which may be related to the initial team. Furthermore, the PEPE team blacklisted addresses that profited immensely from buying PEPE at extremely low prices and then relinquished contract permissions.
Discussions about PEPE suddenly increased on Twitter on April 17th. Some medium-sized key opinion leaders (KOLs) began discussing and promoting PEPE, sparking heated discussions on social media. At the end of April, Google search volume for PEPE also started to rise, indicating that PEPE was gaining wider attention.
Shortly after the launch of PEPE Token, it quickly went live on several CEX/DEX platforms, including Gate, OKEx, Matcha, and BN. These listings were accompanied by an increase in the token’s price. After listing on BN, some users took profits, and news about team cashing out and unequal team allocations led to a significant decline in PEPE’s price. After a six-month adjustment period, with the intensification of anti-venture capitalist sentiment, the heat in the Meme track soared again, and PEPE once again broke new highs, showing signs of becoming a new leader in the Meme industry.
In summary, the reasons why PEPE rose to prominence are as follows:
Team: The team has outstanding capabilities and a top-notch marketing team. In the early stages, they collaborated with influential KOLs for promotion and had access to various resources.
Spread of wealth stories: Stories of early PEPE holders getting rich quickly spread on social media and in the cryptocurrency community. These stories involved PEPE coin holders making huge profits in a short period, arousing the interest and curiosity of others.
FOMO sentiment: After experiencing the crazy rise of Memecoins like Dogecoin and SHIB, people have been looking for the next potential skyrocketing token. The emergence and rapid growth of PEPE triggered the fear of missing out (FOMO) sentiment, with people afraid of missing out on the opportunity for another Memecoin that could multiply their investments by hundreds or thousands of times. This fear of missing out led to more and more people buying PEPE, creating a self-reinforcing cycle. Within less than a month of its release, PEPE attracted over 100,000 hodler addresses.
Promotion by CEX/DEX: The trading platforms played an important role in the development of PEPE. PEPE quickly went live on several well-known platforms, such as MEXC, BN, OKX, and HTX. Seeing PEPE quickly reach over 100,000 hodler addresses within a short period attracted the attention of these platforms, leading to more users and funds flowing into PEPE.
These are the reasons I have learned about why PEPE has risen to prominence. From this, we can see that the gameplay of some Memecoins is similar to PEPE. If you have a different opinion, feel free to leave a comment to supplement.
In conclusion, Twitter KOL neso summarized the crucial factors that determine the growth of Memes at various market cap stages, as shown in the following image.
