$1B Capitalization: Meme Token Launch Strategy Under the Microscope

Fairly impressed by Pepe's success, we decided to analyze their launch strategy and calculate how much the creators have earned. More so, doing this in Web3 was a breath of fresh air.

Website on WIX, coin on ETH—those are no coincidences. The average ETH transaction size is five times larger than BSC. Ethereum's users are obviously the much wealthier elite. An amusing issuance number came down to 420.690 trillion coins, and the first 5 days after the launch were the most critical ones.

Chronology

14.04: launch. The contract is deployed, and liquidity is added to Uniswap. 93% of all Pepe supply is added to the pool, along with 2 ETH. All LP tokens are burned, and the rest of the issuance is allocated for CEXes. A light shilling, including through the popular TG bot (examples: 1; 2), begins.

By the end of the first day, there are 118 holders, mainly team members with multiple accounts.

15.04: not a single sale till the 350k cap. Adding 10k followers to Telegram and Twitter and scoring the first retweets from large accounts. The volume and price are being actively fixed: the morning trades come down to $1 million, while the evening ones go over $6 million. This dynamic starts attracting the attention of the degen channels and chats. Pepe is on all the trends on dextools. By the end of the day, there are 658 holders.

16.04:  active shilling on Twitter and Telegram. There is no copying, everything is purely organic. Here are some examples: 1, 2, 3, 4.

2,763 holders, $254k in the pool, the market capitalization is over $5 million.

17.04: listing on CMC and CoinGecko. First listing on Hotbit. Information spreads across the signal channels. Active shilling: 1, 2.

The key task is to show a chart with impressive numbers.

The next task is to show a rapid change to create FOMO.

9,017 holders. $17 million market cap.

18.04: the team publishes a press release on Yahoo.finance. In the morning, the material is published on Coindesk and other media (1,2). Pepe is trending on Twitter.

An uncontrollable hype begins.

16,715 holders and $33 million market cap.

19.04: trading volume is over $10 million per day. Listing on 10 more CEXes.

The YouTube bloggers join the party: (1, 2).

26,608 holders.

$1 Billion Market Cap and $160 Million in Earnings

As neat as it gets, Pepe's cap has soared past the $1 billion mark, leaving traders in awe as they collectively earned $160 million. Among the top beneficiaries, those who bought the token during its initial week saw gains amounting to $150 million, including the token's creators.

The estimated earnings for the project team now range between $30 million and $100 million, considering their investments in market making, commissions, and marketing efforts during the first 3-4 days.

Key takeaways from the launch strategy

If you look at the entire story under the microscope, you’ll see that the impressive success of Pepe’s launch was not a matter of pure luck.

The narrative, Make Pepe Great Again, initially designed for the American audience, played a vital role in its widespread popularity. Pepe introduced a revamped meme coin economy that eliminated transaction fees, implemented LP token burns, and embraced the role of a "people's coin." In other words, the project came out as relatable, uncomplicated, and fun.

However, the launch was not as straightforward and transparent as it seemed. A liquidity pool with insufficient funds, as well as cheating turnovers and capitalization alongside wallets holding significant balances to manipulate the buy/sell ratio, were just a few aces up the team’s sleeve.

Nevertheless, the token managed to attract its initial audience through the strategic use of platforms like Dextools and multiple large entry points to allure alpha seekers. Pepe managed to effortlessly enter Twitter trends without any active performance, proving that the whole product was pure marketing. The project's dedication to keeping liquidity high and supporting pump movements without depleting the market was yet another smart move.

However, it's important to note that Pepe's cap was not the team's first attempt, but the culmination of the team’s previous endeavors. And as the cryptocurrency world continues to evolve, Pepe's success launch stands as a testament to the power of community-driven initiatives and creative marketing approaches.