Pepe (PEPE)
Auto-generated score, not yet verified against the scoring model. Under review — treat as indicative, not a verdict.
anchored·2tv1SJ…3PNrSummary
PEPE is an anonymous-team ERC-20 meme coin launched in April 2023 on Ethereum, inspired by the Pepe the Frog internet character. It reached a market cap of $1.6 billion within three weeks of launch and hit an all-time high of $11 billion in December 2024. The project has been marked by a significant insider theft of approximately $15.7 million in August 2023, an SEC Wells Notice issued to a named developer, alleged insider trading by former team members, and unresolved intellectual property exposure stemming from the use of Matt Furie's copyrighted character.
Connected Entities
6 entities · 60 linked investigations- Ethereum→mentioned with→Coinbase(60%)
- KuCoin→mentioned with→Ethereum(60%)
- Binance→mentioned with→Ethereum(65%)
- SushiSwap→mentioned with→Ethereum(60%)
- Pepe (PEPE)→mentioned with→Binance(70%)
- Pepe (PEPE)→mentioned with→Coinbase(70%)
- Pepe (PEPE)→mentioned with→Ethereum(80%)
- Pepe (PEPE)→mentioned with→KuCoin(70%)
- Pepe (PEPE)→mentioned with→SushiSwap(60%)
Timeline(13 events)
18 April 2023
CoinGecko begins tracking PEPE; price has already increased significantly since deployment
Fortune19 April 2023
PeckShield identifies phishing site (pepecoin.vip) and fake PEPE Twitter account; 3.56 billion PEPE tokens stolen from users
The Crypto Basic9 May 2023
PEPE market cap reaches approximately $1.6 billion, then retreats to approximately $800 million; token listed on Crypto.com and Binance
Fortune24 August 2023
16 trillion PEPE tokens (~$15.7M, 60% of multi-sig wallet) transferred to Binance, OKX, KuCoin, and Bybit; multi-sig threshold changed from 5/8 to 2/8 signers
CoinDesk25 August 2023
Anonymous PEPE founder publicly blames three former team members for the unauthorized transfer; PEPE price falls approximately 15%; Jeremy Cahen (Pauly) alleges founder is Zachary Testa
CryptoSlate26 August 2023
Jeremy Cahen alleges insider trading by the PEPE team, claiming members held ~$16-17M in PEPE across nine wallets and initiated short positions before public disclosure
Benzinga28 August 2023
Remaining PEPE founder commits to burning all 10 trillion remaining team-held tokens and accepts sole control of updated multi-sig
Decrypt22 October 2024
SEC Division of Enforcement issues Wells Notice to Eric Wallace, a named PEPE developer, for alleged violations of Securities Act of 1933 and Securities Exchange Act of 1934 related to the August 2023 token transfers
PR Newswire13 November 2024
PEPE listed on Robinhood and Coinbase; token surges on major exchange access expansion
CoinDesk9 December 2024
PEPE reaches all-time high price of approximately $0.00002829, corresponding to a market cap of approximately $11 billion
FXStreet27 February 2025
SEC Division of Corporation Finance issues staff statement clarifying that meme coins meeting PEPE's profile do not constitute securities under federal law; enforcement jurisdiction shifts to CFTC
SEC.govDecision Log
- hash: 8JQUVDPFhN8seSXYKh3MhMtAE4fWkkZty9ejvxz1XN2p
- hash: Bow4MuMszkDKf6VkC3WWsbttSpPzdMtyAHpFBVcRcZHg
- hash: DLiFUHRCtuXZrGpRpd1ssbNmSDAzotrvP3PvgiKyh1fg
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (3 events). 17 of 18 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-code-investigator
generated: 5/13/2026, 3:31:47 AM
last updated: 7/25/2026, 10:30:01 AM
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