December 22, 2024
Can PEPE make a comeback? Traders, analysts and Pepe maxis weigh in

The biggest new memecoin of 2023, Pepe (PEPE) has suffered one of the worst fates for a new crypto asset; part of the pull — an anonymous developer abruptly sold nearly $16 million worth of tokens on Aug. 24.

The official Pepe X (formerly Twitter) account explained that the price drop was due to “three former team members” selling tokens behind their backs without their knowledge — a move that caused Pepe’s price to plummet by 26% Next days, not much respite.

Cryptocurrency investors and memecoin enthusiasts have since remained scratching their heads — wondering if there is any hope for the frog-themed token to return to the price it was before the rug.

Cryptocurrency trader Reetika Trades saw some potential positives for PEPE in an interview with Cointelegraph, though he acknowledged that the developer sales were not ideal. She believes that the incident will ultimately have a “negligible impact” on the coin’s prospects in the long run.

“It’s a meme coin with no promise of utility, so the departure of some developers has no effect on the coin,” she said.

“By selling a large number of tokens now, the threat of the total potential total tokens that developers might dump on people in the future has been reduced — which is healthier in the long run.”

However, Reetika also pointed out that Pepe is a memecoin that is famous because it is fundamentally worthless and has no underlying value to price it in. As such, memecoin prices are prone to wild swings, and any investment in these assets should be viewed more like gambling.

Similarly, anonymous trader Horse said that moving the token’s remaining supply away from the developers who sold it is a long-term beneficial move, especially if it “tries to become similar” to Dogecoin (DOGE).

“I think it’s going to come back.”

These emotions are echoed Report Crypto data provider Kaiko noted that the memecoin’s liquidity has held up surprisingly well despite the sudden price plunge.

Despite the sudden plunge, Pepe’s liquidity remains strong. Source: Kaiko

“It appears that the possibility of the team abandoning the project has not been a death sentence, as some have claimed,” the Kaiko researchers concluded.

However, not everyone believes Pepe’s future is bright.

pepe may not come back

Analysts at Santiment warned that while Pepe became the hottest cryptocurrency following the allegations, traders should expect “higher volatility.”

Prominent trader Caleo offered the most pessimistic view of Pepe, expressing his hope that the memecoin would “collapse completely.”

Even after Pepe’s team announced a new direction, Calleo said he would remain on the sidelines. However, he conceded that Pepe may have “rebounded from here to new highs just to make things difficult for me, because I decided to take a recognized moral high ground and sideline myself.”

related: PEPE price to zero? Pepecoin rug-pull allegations put memecoin at risk

Meanwhile, in the wake of Pepe’s turmoil, an anonymous team ventured out to create yet another spinoff of the original Pepe token, which they claim does not have the problems posed by its predecessor.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, the team behind the project described the new PEPE token as the “true essence” of decentralized finance (DeFi).

“The new Pepe token is essentially what the old Pepe token was supposed to be; decentralized, community-driven, team-less token, and deflationary,” they said.

Magazine: How Smart People Invest in Dumb Memecoins – A 3-Point Plan for Success