A new token named after Pepe the Frog, the infamous meme, and cartoon character created by Matt Furie, has entered the meme coin economy. The token is called Pepe (PEPE), and at the time of writing, it has become the sixth-largest meme coin asset in terms of market capitalization, valued at just over $130 million. However, amidst the fast rise, both the website coinmarketcap.com and the Web3 security startup Gopluslabs have warned that the contract owner may have the ability to modify the transaction tax and blacklist function.
PEPE Market Booms Despite Warnings of Contract Modification
Doge and the other dog friends in the meme economy have a new companion, but this time, the newcomer is a frog, specifically Matt Furie’s Pepe the Frog. The coin pepe (PEPE) has not been around for long, appearing on the scene on April 18, 2023. According to current statistics, PEPE is up more than 400% from the coin’s all-time low on the day it started trading. Two days later, on April 20, PEPE’s market valuation reached a high of $165 million. The number of pepe tokens in circulation is 420.69 trillion, and at the time of writing, there are 29,756 PEPE holders.
So far, the crypto asset has recorded 122,368 transfers. Out of the 29,756 PEPE owners, the top ten wallets command 17.25% of the entire supply. Additionally, according to PEPE’s rich list statistics, the top 100 PEPE holders own 44.51% of the entire token supply. On coingecko.com, PEPE is ranked #245 out of 10,755 crypto assets, and the web portal’s meme coin economy page shows that PEPE is the sixth-largest meme coin asset in terms of market capitalization size. On coinmarketcap.com (CMC), PEPE is ranked #2,605 out of 23,473 listed cryptocurrencies on the website.
CMC’s PEPE page also contains a warning link that says: “According to Gopluslabs the contract owner may contain the authority to modify the transaction tax and contain blacklist function. Please exercise caution before taking any action and DYOR.”
CMC also shared the Gopluslabs page that analyzes the PEPE contract. CMC shares warnings like this for other coins, such as Crypto AI (CAI), which states: “According to Gopluslabs, the smart contract of the following asset can be modified by the contract creator (for example: disable selling, change fees, mint new tokens, or transfer tokens). Please exercise caution before taking any action and DYOR.” If the PEPE team has the authority to modify the transaction tax, it would go against the project’s tokenomics ethos.
“No Taxes, No Bullsh**. It’s that simple,” the PEPE tokenomics page details. “93.1% of the tokens were sent to the liquidity pool, LP tokens were burnt, and contract is renounced. The remaining 6.9% of the supply is being held in a multi-sig team wallet only to be used as tokens for future centralized exchange listings, bridges, and liquidity pools. This wallet is easily trackable with the ENS name ‘pepecexwallet.eth.’” PEPE’s web portal also shows a picture of the frog urinating on the top meme assets like SHIB, DOGE, and APE.
Not the First ‘Pepe the Frog’ Crypto Asset and Probably Not the Last
PEPE’s roadmap has big aspirations as phase three of the plan is to produce “generational wealth” and create a “Pepe Academy.” At the end of phase three, it also says “flip Bitcoin.” Furthermore, the PEPE website insists that the team and project have “no association” with Matt Furie or his creation, Pepe the Frog.
PEPE is not the first crypto asset to use the Pepe the Frog name and image, as there are a number of others dedicated to the famous meme, such as arbi pepe, pepesol, pepemoon, mcpepe’s, PEPE.bet, zkpepe, and babypepe.. Furthermore, pepe cash was created long before PEPE and the rest of these assets in order to bolster the community of digital artwork collectors and creators using the Counterparty blockchain and the original Rare Pepe NFT trading cards.
The new PEPE token website claims that the crypto asset is not a financial vehicle with any real promises. “PEPE is a meme coin with no intrinsic value or expectation of financial return,” the website discloses. “There is no formal team or roadmap. The coin is completely useless and for entertainment purposes only.”
What do you think about the rise of Pepe (PEPE) in the meme coin economy, and do you believe that its contract owner’s ability to modify transaction tax and blacklist function is a cause for concern? Share your opinion in the comments section below.
