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Meme coin PEPE has outperformed Dogecoin (DOGE) in weekly gains after major crypto exchanges announced plans to list the token as meme coins continue to swell on a Republican victory and a broader market rally.
The announcement of Pepe’s listings sparked immediate market reactions. In just a few hours, the token’s market cap briefly surged past $10 billion, while Dogecoin’s sits at $56 billion.
The surge in Pepe’s value comes after two major U.S.-based exchanges—Robinhood and Coinbase—announced their listings, giving the token newfound visibility and driving massive retail interest.
Trading volume for Dogecoin recorded $28 billion over 24 hours. Pepe, meanwhile, clocked $24 billion in mere hours after the listing announcements.
In terms of weekly performance, Doge is up 104%, while the frog-themed meme coin has notched roughly 131% over the same period.
Pepe reached an all-time high of $0.00002299 on Wednesday, surpassing its previous peak set in May, per CoinGecko data. As a result, Pepe broke into the top 20 cryptos by market cap for the first time.
The frog-themed meme coin’s surge follows in the footsteps of Dogecoin (DOGE), which has seen explosive growth since the November U.S. election.
Dogecoin rose to new heights, peaking at $0.40 amid the market rally, a price unseen since 2021. The meme coin piggy-backed Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s brief nods to it during President-elect Donald Trump’s election campaign, which sparked a broader meme coin rally.
Coinbase’s announcement followed nearly 18 months of community requests, making Pepe the fourth meme coin on the platform after Dogecoin, Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Bonk.
Crypto analysts are now busting out their crystal balls, claiming Pepe could follow Dogecoin’s trajectory despite a slow start during the initial few days following the election.
“The Pepe breakout starts now,” Daan de Rover, founder of automated crypto trading platform CryptoSea, said Wednesday on X, noting the token could see another 900% jump.
The appetite for meme coins is far from over, with new players challenging the old guard as the hype surrounding meme coins extends beyond just Pepe and Dogecoin. Binance recently listed Solana-based meme coins ACT and PNUT, which saw gains of up to 1,300%.
Launched in April 2023, Pepe is based on the iconic internet meme “Pepe the Frog,” created by Matt Furie in 2005. The token launched with little fanfare but gradually built a strong community.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair