Pepe coin is a bad investment

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Pump the frog! is the latest rallying cry to ricochet in the crypto sphere as accomplices urge each other to buy a token called Pepe. Named after the cartoon frog from popular culture, the coin launched a few weeks ago and hit a market cap of over $1.6 billion last weekend before dropping precipitously. It’s so stupid I don’t know where to start.

For starters, the Pepe piece does nothing. It’s a memecoin like Dogecoin or Shiba Inu and there are billions of them in circulation, each worth tiny fractions of a penny. Its cultural significance is as muddled as the larger Pepe meme, which began as a friendly cartoon frog before being appropriated by alt-right losers, then re-appropriated into the mainstream by artist and its allies, and later embraced by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. In the realm of crypto, the importance of Pepe coins seems to begin and end with pumping the frog.

It’s a free country and people are welcome to waste their money frivolously, whether at the roulette table or buying ill-advised penny stocks. You do you. Still, episodes like Pepe coin falling through the floor as I write this Monday night bother me.

The reason is that these projects feel predatory. The Crypto Brothers get together and produce a variety of Pepe-like tokens, then release them on social media in hopes that one of them will catch on with less-sophisticated buyers. While some of these buyers just do it for the lulz, and others try to flip the tokens to a bigger fool, just like the creators, more than a few people have bought the Pepe coin believing it’s a good faith investment. It’s insane, of course, but as Charles Schwab’s daughter recently told Fortune, a lot of people are financially illiterate and, to her credit, she tries to educate them, rather than prey on them. to them as the Pepe corner bros.

I also don’t like Pepe coin because the crypto industry is dealing with a huge post-FTX reputation problem and episodes like pumping the frog only reinforce the popular prejudice that crypto is only only for charlatans and idiots. At a time when the industry is trying to rebuild itself, the Pepe coin is the last thing it needs.

To end on a different, happier note, I tried out Twitter competitor BlueSky over the weekend, and while the interface is still clunky, the vibe is great, and unlike its Musk-owned competitor , the newcomer feels like it cares about its users. . Thanks to those of you who emailed your thoughts on BlueSky and to a friend who sent an invite code. I hope to see more of you soon.

Jeff John [email protected]@jeffjohnroberts

DECENTRALIZED NEWS

The US division of Bittrex, a once influential bitcoin exchange, filed for bankruptcy weeks after being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Coindesk)

Ripple’s CEO has revealed that the company has already spent $200 million defending itself in a high-profile SEC lawsuit. (CNBC)

A review of Solana’s new smartphone highlights its dApp store and private key security features, but suggests it’s not exactly a must buy, even for crypto enthusiasts. (Fortune)

Crypto prices fell across the board, likely weighed down by a Bitcoin memecoin selloff and resulting network congestion. (Bloomberg)

Two countries plagued by runaway inflation, Turkey and Argentina, have the highest rate of crypto ownership, standing at 27% and 24%, respectively. (Reuters)

EVEN OF THE MOMENT

Thanks for the good times Pepe:

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