Pepecoin (PEPE) caused a stir in the slow-moving crypto market, going from less than $1 million at launch to almost $2 billion in just a few weeks. As a memecoin with a frog theme in a crypto world dominated by dog-themed coins, PEPE is likely to trigger some funny memes.
However, Coinbase recently sent an email to investors that did not land well with PEPE fans and holders. The email mentioned that PEPE has been co-opted as a symbol of hate by alt-right groups, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
PEPE and Coinbase’s Email
Crypto influencer Borovik.eth shared a screenshot of the email newsletter from May 10 with his 96,000 followers. The newsletter cited a 2016 decision made by the Anti-Defamation League to include the frog-themed character in its database of online hate symbols.
“Why is @coinbase sending out emails telling people that $pepe is an alt-right hate symbol??,” Borovik.eth wrote.
The memecoin has declined and has lost at least half its market cap so far. Nonetheless, it secured listings on OKX and Binance, and Gemini also announced its support.
PEPE Lovers Take on Coinbase
PEPE received support as digital artist Beeple and crypto influencers Kenobi and Pauly highlighted the community-driven movement against VC-backed entities hijacking the Web3 movement. Beeple posted a picture of the Pepe Army laying siege to Coinbase.
Although PEPE experienced a huge bull run since its launch on April 17 by an anonymous creator, it is now beginning to settle down. On May 9, CryptoPotato reported that the market cap of the most exciting memecoin was reduced to $800 million, down from $1.8 billion in four days. A day earlier, the four-week-old coin had ended the week with a 350% gain.
PEPE was worth $0.000002023 when listed on Binance on May 5, but the news drove its price to $0.000004354. According to CoinMarketCap, it currently trades at $0.000001615, signalling a dip of 15.82%.
UPDATE: Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer recently took to Twitter to apologise for not providing the whole story in the email sent to investors.
We screwed up and we are sorry.
Yesterday we shared an overview of the $pepe meme coin to provide a fact-based picture of a trending topic. This did not provide the whole picture of the history of the meme and we apologize to the community.
— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) May 11, 2023
