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Memecoin buyers are playing the crypto-equivalent of Powerball — with many "playing" hoping for "life-changing money" yet only a few will walk away with the jackpot, says Matrixport’s head of research.

Memecoins have seen a huge resurgence over the last week. Crypto tokens such as Pepe (PEPE) and Milady (LADYS) have boasted staggering price surges despite each having little to no discernable utility. 

Speaking to Cointelegraph on May 10, Matrixport’s Markus Thielen suggested some buyers of memecoins bear resemblance to those that participate in the lottery. 

“There are numerous studies done on how most people in lower socio-economic classes play the lottery [...] as that is their way to get out of their lower economic class,” he said, adding:

“The people that speculate in the lottery are trying to make money lightning fast, and I think that's very similar with crypto.”

As the hype surrounding the PEPE memecoin intensifies, bad actors within the space have started to take notice, resulting in various scam attempts plaguing the crypto space. 

According to blockchain security firm PeckShield, there were at least ten meme coin scams created in the last three days alone. The firm detected and reported scam tokens that recently had their liquidity removed, pulling the rug on investors.

On Twitter, fake Pepe claim sites are also starting to be more prevalent. Cybersecurity company CertiK also issued an alert on a fake Pepe site claiming to provide rewards. The firm warned the community that the website is connected to a phishing contract. 

Meanwhile, the official Telegram group of the Pepe coin community has also been occasionally seeing posts from fake accounts, trying to redirect its members to various websites. Members of the group have tried to consistently report and ban the users who were suspected of promoting scams.

Pepe coin’s creators have repeatedly warned the community to refrain from connecting their wallets with suspicious airdrops and giveaway claims. In addition, the team highlighted that they will not be associated with other tokens or projects. 

An email sent out to Coinbase customers describing memecoin Pepe (PEPE) as a “hate symbol” co-opted by alt-right groups has drawn significant ire from the memecoin community. 

Prominent crypto influencer Borovik.eth shared a screenshot of the email newsletter from May 10 to his 96,000 followers, which cites a 2016 decision from the Anti-Defamation League to place the frog-themed character in its database of online hate symbols.

Fans and holders of the frog-themed memecoin were outraged at the description of the token, sparking calls for Coinbase to issue an apology, and users to start deleting their accounts with the crypto exchange.

Pseudonymous Twitter user and solidity developer @Kenobi declared that Pepe is not a symbol of hate and that he would be moving funds to the US-based crypto exchange Gemini as a result, completing his tweet with the hashtag: “#deletecoinbase”

The hashtag “#deletecoinbase” has hit the trending bar of Twitter, with more than 14,000 tweets in the last 2 hours and counting, according to data from Tweetbinder.

The market cap of new memecoin Pepe (PEPE) has fallen $1.1 billion from its May 6 peak, though on-chain data shows it's still being bought by some crypto whales. 

Over the last five days, the price of the memecoin has plummeted more than 56% falling from a peak of $0.00000431 to $0.00000193, according to CoinGecko.

The downward price action of Pepe has seen the token’s total valuation sinking from a peak of $1.82 billion on May 6 to $820 million at the time of publication.

A May 8 report penned by researchers from crypto fintech firm Matrixport attributed Pepe’s sharp decline in price to traders selling large chunks of their holdings to new retail investors following the memecoin’s listing on Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume.

Additionally, the report found that the largest driver of Pepe’s meteoric price action since its inception on April 14, seems to be coming from traders based in Asia. According to Matrixport, buying activity during Asian trading hours contributed a staggering 3,657% to the total 9,071% rally witnessed by the memecoin as of May 8.

In today’s The Market Report episode, analyst and writer Marcel Pechman discusses why crypto prices are going down after Bitcoin (BTC) failed to break above $29,000, plus whether or not Jerome Powell is lying about keeping interest rates above 5%, and lastly, what Warren Buffett meant by the “incredible period” coming to an end. The show airs every Tuesday on the Cointelegraph Markets & Research YouTube channel.

The first news article explains why Bitcoin has been trading in a narrow range near $28,000. The culprit? The standoff between markets and policymakers as United States Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell publicly stated that interest rates are unlikely to come down this year. Meanwhile, the markets for risk-on assets have firmly priced in rates to decrease in the coming months.

Pechman explains why the Fed raised interest rates above 5% and the apparent disconnection between the 3.4% unemployment rate and the 42 million North Americans who are SNAP recipients (on food stamps). Furthermore, the analyst dives into the $31.5 trillion in government debt and the discussion to further raise this limit.

But, more importantly, Pechman explains that Bitcoin could revisit sub-$20,000 levels if the government is not bluffing by keeping interest rates above 5% throughout 2023. As for the memecoin invasion, Pechman thinks that the PEPE rally (and subsequent correction) is merely a sector rotation, not an altcoin season by any means. Moreover, the analyst explains why futures markets are needed to create balanced and more effective market pricing for PEPE.

On to the show’s next topic: Pechman discusses Warren Buffett’s bear play after increasing his investment holding company Berkshire Hathaway’s cash position to its highest level in 18 months. An incoming recession or merely weaker earnings in the next couple of quarters? Check out today’s Market Report to find out.

The United States consumer price index rose 4.9% annually, which was slightly less than estimates of a 5% increase. The CPI’s monthly rise of 0.4% in April was in line with expectations.

Although inflation remains stubbornly higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2% target range, traders will take comfort from the slower pace of increase. That suggests the Fed rate hikes are having their effect and further rate hikes may not be necessary.

If the Fed pivots and starts to cut rates as the FedWatch Tool projects, that may be positive for risky assets such as equities and cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin (BTC) has responded positively to the CPI data and has risen above $28,000 on May 10.

While the downside looks limited, the bulls may not have it easy at higher levels because of the high risk of a recession and the possibility of the banking crisis erupting again. That may keep the price stuck inside a range, which may act as a base for the next leg of the rally when that happens.

What are the important support and resistance levels to watch out for on Bitcoin and the major altcoins? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Memes, internet jokes, and popular culture references have become an integral part of online communities. Because of this, cryptocurrencies inevitably gave birth to a new wave of assets called "memecoins." While some argue that these coins are just a fad, others might also believe in their potential to bring financial gain to their investors. 

One of the most popular memecoins that was recently launched is a frog-themed token called PEPE. The token has gained traction amid the bear market and garnered a lot of support from various members of the community despite its official website saying “the coin is completely useless and for entertainment purposes only.”

According to its creators, PEPE is on a mission to “make memecoins great again” a play on former United States president Donald Trump’s political slogan, make America great again. The project also expressed its intent to surpass dog-inspired meme coins that “already have had their day” and have Pepe, which they argue to be the most recognizable meme in the world, take its place as the “king of memes.”

As it makes its way to the top, PEPE has to surpass the current king that sits on top of the charts for memecoins–Dogecoin. In a Cointelegraph Twitter poll back on April 25, DOGE still remained on top when Twitter was asked what they think will have the biggest market capitalization in 2025. However, PEPE came in close and claimed second place.

PEPE and Dogecoin (DOGE) have their similarities and will inevitably perform differently from each other. Both crypto tokens gained a significant following and were created for a similar reason which is entertainment. However, the difference lies in their journey to a $1 billion market capitalization and performances after hitting the market capitalization. 

Aragon, an open-source framework designed to launch decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), has pulled plans for its native Aragon (ANT) token holders to be given voting rights over the future direction of the organization.

The Aragon Association, a Switzerland-based organization that oversees the management of Aragon said in a May 9 tweet it exercised its “fiduciary duty” to secure its treasury and overall mission by “repurposing the Aragon DAO as part of a new grants program.”

The decision was made after the recently launched Aragon DAO suffered a 51% attack at the hands of a group called the “Risk Free Value (RFV) Raiders” who were seeking to manipulate the use of ANT as a means to achieve financial gain.

According to a blog post from Aragon, the RFV Raiders are linked to the recent attack and liquidation of Rook DAO which occurred in early April. Aragon alleges the Raiders are activist investors from the asset management firm Arca Capital Management and refer to themselves as the “vultures of crypto.”

The blog post shed further light on the controversial decision:

A single trader just spent a staggering 64 Ether — equivalent to $118,000 — in gas fees purchasing $155,000 worth of a memecoin called Four (FOUR).

According to an update from the popular blockchain tracking service ‘Whale Alert’, the lone trader paid an astonishing $119,157 in Ether (ETH) to complete a Unsiwap trade that swapped 84 Wrapped Ether (WETH) for 13.8 billion FOUR tokens.

It appears as though the trader voluntarily increased their gas fee to speed up the transaction time to purchase the memecoin. According to pseudonymous Twitter user @FlurETH, the trader in question is sitting on 133 ETH ($245,667) in unrealized profit on their investment in the memecoin.

Gas fees on the Ethereum network have become the subject of debate amongst the crypto community, with a number of prominent Etheruem advocates praising the heightened activity for its revenue generating effects and long-term deflationary pressure on the supply of Ether.

Others have leveled criticism at the fees, claiming that unless the network becomes more “affordable” mass adoption will never be achieved.

The price of new memecoin Pepe (PEPE) has plunged more than 42% only days after reaching its all-time high on May 6, leaving at least one investor with hundreds of thousands in paper losses. 

According to blockchain analytics service Lookonchain, one crypto “whale” purchased 962.3 billion Pepe tokens using 70 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and 470 Ether (ETH) for an average price of $0.000003122 on May 5.

PEPE has, however, fallen 42% from its all-time high since then, according to CoinGecko. The crypto investor’s PEPE holdings are now estimated to be worth only $2.4 million, marking an unrealized loss of more than $600,000.

Despite the recent price decline, Pepe still holds a market capitalization of just over $1 billion, making it the 45th largest cryptocurrency by overall valuation.

Since its inception on April 14, Pepe has attracted widespread attention, witnessing over $636 million in trading volume within the last 24 hours, and single-handed burning more than 5,000 ETH in related gas fees via Uniswap trading as of May 5.

As so-called “memecoins” capture the attention of the wider crypto industry in recent weeks, a viral video has emerged detailing just how easy it is for anyone with an internet connection to create a brand new cryptocurrency from scratch. 

A May 6 video from digital artist Johnny Shankman — who goes by @whitelights.eth on Twitter — shows him completing a “speedrun” of creating and deploying an entirely new token, humorously dubbed “EASY_MONEY” in just 27 seconds. The record was then beaten just a day later, clocking in at 22.45 seconds. 

The term "speed run" originates from the gaming community and is typically used in reference to completing a game, or level in a game, as quickly as possible. 

In the now-viral video, Shankman shows how any user can quickly create a new token by utilizing a program called Contracts Wizard, created by the crypto cybersecurity firm OpenZeppelin. The Contacts Wizard tool generates code for an ERC-20 token with a few quick clicks of a cursor. On the program, users can select a number of potential features for their token.

After the code has been created, Shankman then uses an application called Remix, which compiles the token’s smart contract and deploys it on a given blockchain network. In the video, Shankman opts for deploying his EASY_MONEY (EZ) token on the Ethereum testnet.