Move over Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, there is a new memecoin on the block. PepeCoin is the new memecoin hitting the market with stratospheric gains.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING
PepeCoin, inspired by a frog named ‘Pepe’, which often features in internet memes, leapt nearly 7,000 percent in the 17 days after its April 16 launch, hitting a market value of $1.8 billion by May 5.
PepeCoin is a memecoin — coins based on popular internet memes. Memecoins came into prominence through dogecoin, which has been patronised by Twitter owner Elon Musk.
The memecoin’s performance has sparked renewed investor interest in memecoins as a whole. Their overall trading volumes have jumped to $2.6 billion in the first week of May from $408,000 the week before.
However, market players have warned that traders and investors could get badly burned by memecoins. They argue that they lack practical use beyond speculation, distinguishing them from more mainstream coins like bitcoin and ether.
Regulatory fears
Recently, crypto prices came under selling pressure after investors weighed a news report about two of the biggest institutional liquidity providers dialing back their crypto-trading businesses in the United States.
Jane Street and Jump Crypto, two of the biggest crypto market makers, have said they will take a step back from crypto trading in the United States, where regulators continue their crackdown on the nascent industry.
Just a few months back, the US Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a joint statement warning banks of the liquidity risks associated with banking crypto firms.
(With agency inputs)
