Pepe (PEPE), a meme coin launched on April 14, 2023, has surged over 85% in the last 24 hours and surpassed a market cap of $1 billion. However, the token's official website states that it has no intrinsic value or expectation of financial return, and that it is completely useless and for entertainment purposes only. Pepe is similar to other memecoins such as Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), which experienced massive surges in value in 2021 despite their lack of underlying fundamentals. Investment in memecoins is considered high-risk due to their extreme volatility and major swings in value. On-chain activity from Pepe insiders has raised concerns, with five addresses allegedly linked to the Pepe team making a $1.23 million profit by purchasing PEPE at a low price and selling over 90% of their holdings on Uniswap for a gain.

(By TOM MITCHELHILL)