Pepe Coin Launch

2023

Date: 14 April 2023 · Place: Ethereum mainnet · Uniswap · contract 0x6982508 · Figures: Anonymous Pepe Coin developers · Matt Furie, original Pepe creator (uninvolved) · Tags: Memecoin, Frog Iconography, Bear Bottom Rally 01. Anonymous Mint, Zero Utility On 14 April 2023, five months into post-FTX winter, an anonymous team launches PEPE on Ethereum as a pure memecoin. No utility, no roadmap, no tax. Liquidity is locked. The contract is renounced. The pitch is the frog and nothing else. PEPE goes from launch to a $1.6B market cap in three weeks. The 1,000-times-back stories start trending. Bitcoin is still at $28,000 and most of CT is unemployed, but PEPE rips through May 2023 as the first major bear-bottom memecoin rally. 02. Matt Furie Does Not Get Paid Matt Furie, who created Pepe in 2005 and spent 2016-2020 fighting the alt-right co-option of his frog, is not consulted, not paid, and not pleased. He has no recourse. The Pepe image is, by 2023, in the wild beyond any copyright frame that could enforce against an anonymous Ethereum contract. PEPE is the proof-of-concept for memecoin season. Within a year SHIB, FLOKI, BONK, WIF, and a thousand others are running the same playbook: free mint, frog or dog mascot, no utility, ride attention to liquidity. Sources • Pepe Coin smart contract, Etherscan (0x6982508...) • Decrypt, 'Pepe Coin Hits $1.6B Market Cap' (May 2023) • Matt Furie statement on PEPE coin, via Boys' Club (April 2023)