Binance.US lists PEPE as crypto exchanges vie for memecoin market

Binance.US, in a bid to secure a significant portion of the emerging and lucrative memecoin market, has announced the listing of the popular memecoin Pepe (PEPE). According to Binance.US, trading for PEPE will commence against Tether (USDT), a stablecoin, on December 5 at 6:00 AM Eastern.

"From its inception, PEPE has garnered substantial popularity among network participants, predominantly driven by social media engagement and community support," Binance.US stated.

As of December 4, PEPE boasts a total market capitalization approaching $9 billion, as per CoinGecko.

Pepe the Frog. Source: Boy’s Club Wiki

Related: Is the ‘memecoin supercycle’ already nearing its end? Analysts provide their perspectives

More Memecoin Listings

Cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance.US and Coinbase, are actively expanding their memecoin offerings following President-elect Donald Trump's victory on November 5.

Under the crypto-friendly Trump administration, Coinbase anticipates "expanding our offerings to include some of those tokens that were previously unavailable," as reported by Tom Duff Gordon, Coinbase's vice president of international policy, in a November Bloomberg article.

"We are specifically referring to the smaller tokens, particularly the memecoin tokens," Gordon added.

In December, Coinbase listed Moodeng (MOODENG), Mog (MOG), and Dogwifhat (WIF), all of which are memecoins.

Binance.US listed Bonk (BONK) in November, a well-known dog-themed memecoin.

As of December 4, the collective market capitalization of memecoins stands at over $130 billion, according to CoinGecko.

Source: CoinGecko

Origins of Pepe

Pepe, created in 2005 by artist Matt Furie, is a cartoon frog that has become an immensely popular internet meme, particularly within the cryptocurrency community.

Other creations by Furie have also found popularity as memecoins, including Brett (BRETT), Andy (ANDY), and Landwolf (WOLF).

During the 2016 US presidential election, Pepe imagery gained traction among alt-right groups, leading to controversy surrounding what Furie describes as a "peaceful frog-dude."

In 2019, Furie initiated a lawsuit against Infowars and its creator, Alex Jones, for using the character in Infowars' political content.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, an organization dedicated to combating hate speech, "the majority of uses of Pepe the Frog have been, and continue to be, non-bigoted."