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Pepe (PEPE), an emerging meme coin, has witnessed a significant $1.1 billion decrease in market capitalization since May 6, despite continued interest from various cryptocurrency whales. According to CoinGecko data, between May 6 and May 10, Pepe experienced a staggering 56% decrease in value, with its price dropping from a high of $0.00000431 to $0.00000193. This sharp decline resulted in the token's total valuation plummeting from $1.82 billion on May 6 to $820 million at the time of writing.
A report released on May 8 by crypto fintech company Matrixport attributes Pepe's rapid price drop to large-scale sales by traders targeting new retail investors following the meme coin's listing on Binance, the leading crypto exchange in daily trading volume.
The report also suggests that Asian traders have been the primary driving force behind Pepe's exponential price movement since its launch on April 14. Matrixport indicates that purchases during Asian trading hours accounted for an astounding 3,657% of the meme coin's total 9,071% increase as of May 8.
Another contributing factor is the surge in Ethereum deposits within 24 hours of Pepe's listing on the exchange, reaching levels not seen since November 2021. Crypto market intelligence firm Santiment proposes that this increase is primarily due to early Pepe investors locking in profits by converting their holdings back to Ether (ETH), which they primarily obtained through ETH swaps on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap and 1inch.
While other meme coins, such as Dogecoin (DOGE) and its canine-themed counterpart Shiba Inu (SHIB), have leveraged their success to develop additional applications and use cases for their respective tokens, Pepe appears to have no such intentions. Pepe's secretive developers have been transparent in declaring the token as utterly "useless," emphasizing that its humorous nature alone is sufficient incentive for investors to take a chance on it.
