The rapid rise of the Pepe (PEPE) meme token has been a hot topic in the cryptocurrency community. However, recent findings suggest that the incredible gains made by some holders may not be as organic as they appear. An investigation into five addresses related to pepecexwallet.eth has revealed that they made a staggering 3,200x return on their investment, but all of these addresses appear to be tied to the creator of the token.
The investigation found that these five addresses purchased a total of 8.87 trillion PEPE tokens at a low price, at a cost of approximately 0.19 ETH ($385). These tokens were then sold on decentralized exchanges (DEX) for a combined total of $1.23 million, representing a return of nearly 3,200 times the initial investment.
A closer look at the transactions shows that wallet "0xAd10" bought 2.44 trillion PEPE tokens for 0.0195 ETH ($39.3) and then transferred the tokens to wallet "0x9807." Wallet "0x9807" bought an additional 0.06 trillion PEPE tokens for 0.11 WETH ($230.84) and transferred a total of 2.5 trillion PEPE tokens to wallet "0x7607." Finally, wallet "0x7607" bought 1.77 trillion PEPE tokens for 0.0175 ETH ($35.24) and sold all 4.26 trillion PEPE tokens for $726,218.
These transactions raise concerns about the legitimacy of the Pepe meme token's meteoric rise, as previously reported. The token experienced a massive 7,500x increase in just a few days before correcting by 60%, only to rebound by another 60%. However, the potential manipulation of the token's supply and the ability of the developer to blacklist wallets have raised red flags about the safety of holding PEPE.
While tokens like PEPE can offer incredible gains in a short period, they can also be susceptible to manipulation and may not provide a stable long-term investment.