The famous memecoin Pepe (PEPE) officially surpassed Uniswap (UNI) in market capitalization on December 7. Inspired by the iconic frog figure, Pepe now holds a market cap of over 11 billion USD, surpassing UNI's 10.6 billion USD, while also recording a new historic milestone in its development.
Pepe's impressive performance
According to data from CoinMarketCap, the price of PEPE has increased by about 16.4% in the past 24 hours and has grown by over 26% in a week. At the beginning of 2024, Pepe's market capitalization was only around 591 million USD. By December 5, this token surpassed the 11 billion USD mark, marking a nearly 18-fold growth since the beginning of the year.
PEPE surpasses UNI in market capitalization | Source: Coinmarketcap
Launched in 2023, Pepe quickly attracted attention, especially after the success of other memecoins like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB). Although often seen as having no intrinsic value, Pepe has emerged as a favored asset among memecoin traders.
Pepe is a memecoin inspired by the cartoon frog created by artist Matt Furie in 2005, although the project is not related to Furie or the original Boys Club comic series. Since its launch, Pepe has recorded an astonishing growth of over 7,000%, strongly competing with major memecoins like DOGE.
In September 2024, Pepe began to recover after months of consolidation and price decline. In the last week of September, this token recorded a 30% increase in one week. However, the price drops in early November wiped out most of the previous gains.
After stabilizing in October, Pepe entered a historic price surge in November, breaking previous highs and establishing new price peaks, solidifying its position in the market.
The allure of Pepe has led Binance.US to officially list this token on December 5. This move reflects the growing popularity of memecoins among speculators and investors, reaffirming Pepe's central role in the current crypto market cycle.