A Giant Whale Speaks, and the Price of Once-Popular Memecoin Skyrockets

Pepe (PEPE), one of the memecoins that attracted attention in the cryptocurrency market, experienced a sharp rise after a well-known crypto phenomenon made an ambitious prediction for the year 2026.

Pepe, like many other memecoins, had been out of the public eye for a long time.

Launched in April 2023, Pepe surpassed a market capitalization of $1 billion shortly after its launch, reaching an all-time high of approximately $11 billion in December 2024.

On Thursday, anonymous crypto investor James Wynn suggested that Pepe could increase in value 40-fold by 2026, rising from a market capitalization of $1.7 billion to $69 billion. Following Wynn’s post, Pepe’s price surged by more than 34%.

The chart shows today’s price increase for PEPE.

This surge comes at a time when memecoin has been trading at its lowest levels in nearly two years. Pepe is still approximately 79% below its all-time high.

James Wynn is known for his aggressive and high-risk trading strategies in the cryptocurrency markets. Wynn frequently opens positions exceeding $100 million on perpetual futures exchanges like Hyperliquid, aiming to maximize his gains through high leverage. This approach, while maximizing profit potential, also amplifies potential losses.

Although Wynn claims to have earned $100 million in 70 days with this strategy, he has also experienced significant losses in the past. Last May, Wynn took a nominal long position of $1 billion on the expectation that the price of Bitcoin would rise, but he did not cash in approximately $100 million in unrealized profit. This gain was quickly wiped out when the price of Bitcoin declined.

This time, it’s still unclear what level of stake Wynn is taking on Pepe.

*This is not investment advice.

Source