Ethereum’s newest meme coin, Pepe Unchained (PEPU), has seen its price rise over 100% during its first day of trading on Uniswap.
Since its launch yesterday, the layer 2-focused project has attracted over 40,000 holders and generated $26 million in spot trading volume.
PEPU token price rises 200% on first day of Uniswap trading
Trading started on Uniswap at 2 PM UTC yesterday, and Pepe Unchained saw immediate trading activity.
After an initial surge, followed by some profit-taking, the coin found its footing and rallied - eventually climbing 200% from its low to reach an all-time high.
That move tripled early investors’ returns and pushed PEPU’s market cap past $208 million.
While the coin’s price has settled from that peak, it remains up over 100% from yesterday’s lows.
PEPU is backed by $3.8 million in locked liquidity secured for 11 months.
Now live on @CoinMarketCap!
— Pepe Unchained (@pepe_unchained) December 10, 2024
Show the power of the $PEPU community by casting your bullish vote! 🐸https://t.co/XKNyUJPrbY pic.twitter.com/XNoL3iZOpY
The coin has also secured a CoinMarketCap listing – and rumors are swirling about a potential CEX debut in the coming weeks.
What also makes Pepe Unchained’s performance noteworthy is its timing.
The wider meme coin market has been struggling this week, with established names like DOGE and PEPE facing significant selling pressure.
Pepe Unchained has managed to buck this trend, maintaining its upward momentum despite the sector-wide headwinds.
Pepe Unchained’s layer 2 blockchain ecosystem draws trader attention
Pepe Unchained differentiates itself from other meme coins with its layer 2 blockchain called “Pepe Chain.”
This blockchain is specifically designed for creating meme coins and trading.
Pepe Chain caught the crypto community’s attention during Pepe Unchained’s six-month presale phase, which wrapped up last week after raising over $70 million.
That makes it one of the largest meme coin presales in history.
Another key part of Pepe Unchained’s ecosystem is the “Pump Pad” platform, which promises to let users create and launch their own meme coins on Ethereum in just two clicks.
Pump Pad aims to do for Ethereum what Pump.fun did for Solana.
Early investors have praised this utility-focused approach, especially given that Pepe Unchained’s whitepaper outlines plans to launch a native DEX in the future.
Looking at the project’s tokenomics, the team has allocated PEPU’s 8 billion supply over several categories.
The structure includes 10% for marketing and 47.5% for project development.
PEPU token staking protocol sees 3.3B tokens locked for 48% APY
Beyond its trading debut, Pepe Unchained has been attracting attention because of its staking protocol.
This protocol went live at the same time as the PEPU presale, offering investors the chance to lock up their tokens for yield.
Right now, annual yields are estimated at 48%.
Investors have already locked up over 3.3 billion tokens, representing a significant portion of the total supply.
On the security front, Pashov Audit Group has completed an audit of the Pepe Unchained ecosystem, including its smart contracts and layer 2 infrastructure.
The audit revealed no critical vulnerabilities or major issues.
Pepe Unchained has also been gaining traction across crypto media channels.
PEPU is currently ranked fourth on CoinMarketCap’s trending cryptos list, and the popular YouTube channel 99Bitcoins recently featured the token in an analysis video.
With CEX listings potentially on the horizon and its core features now operational, Pepe Unchained’s team is striving to preserve this momentum in the days and weeks ahead.