Popular memecoin Pepe (PEPE) overtook Uniswap's token (UNI) in terms of market capitalization on Dec. 7. The frog-themed memecoin currently has a market capitalization of over $11 billion compared to UNI's market cap of approximately $10.6 billion — hitting a new all-time high in the process.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, Pepe gained approximately 16.8% during the past 24 hours and is up roughly 26% over the past seven days.
At the beginning of 2024, Pepe had a market cap of approximately $591 million. The popular memecoin briefly crossed a market cap of $11 billion on Dec. 5 and is currently floating around that level. The $11 billion market cap represents growth of roughly 18x since the start of the year.
Pepe launched in 2023 following the meteoric success of other memecoins like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB). The memecoin, which openly purports to have "no intrinsic value," has become a favorite among memecoin traders.
Cryptocurrencies by market cap. Source: CoinMarketCap
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Pepe's rise to become a top 20 crypto by market cap
Pepe is a memecoin paying homage to a cartoon frog created by comic book artist Matt Furie in 2005, although the project has no ties to Furie or the original "Boys Club" series that gave birth to the cartoon character.
Since the release of the memecoin in 2023, Pepe has risen to become a formidable competitor to staple memecoins like DOGE and has experienced gains of over 7,000% since its inception.
In Sept. 2024, Pepe began to rally following months of downward price action and consolidation. The frog-themed memecoin gained 30% in a week during the last week of Sept. 2024. However, the price of the memecoin retraced during the early days of Nov. 2024 — wiping away those gains.
Pepe’s price action. Source: TradingView
Price continued to consolidate during October before kicking off a historic rally in November that saw Pepe reach its previous all-time high, and culminated in the current all-time high.
The popularity of the memecoin among market speculators and investors caused Binance.US to list the token on Dec. 5, as memecoins continue to be a major narrative during the current market cycle.
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This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.