After the meme coin $PEPE was launched, its price increased more than a thousand times in just 4 days, and it has now entered the top 100 cryptocurrencies. The cute frog behind the meme coin has a long story. Only by understanding its "previous life" can you understand the "why" of its popularity.

现在，让我带领你回顾PEPE的前世今生！

The meme coin $PEPE was launched on April 14 this year. In just four days, it experienced crazy growth, increasing in value by more than a thousand times. Today, $PEPE has successfully broken into the top 100 cryptocurrencies and is currently ranked 82nd, according to Coingecko. While the popularity of the meme coin $PEPE may seem like a recent occurrence, there’s a long story behind it involving a cute frog spreading meme culture. Only by understanding the causes and consequences of this story can we understand why it has become the high-profile meme coin it is today.

2005: Pepe is just a lazy and pizza-loving male "frog"

The earliest prototype of the "Pepe the Frog" meme (PEPE) comes from the character written by the American independent cartoonist Matt Furie. It first appeared in the Boy's Club comic he published. The image appears as a lazy "otaku" wearing sports tank tops and shorts who loves pizza. At this time, "Pepe the Frog" behaved friendly and ordinary. The author put the comic on his Myspace blog, but its reach was limited, so "Peppa the Frog" was still unknown at that time.

2008 to 2014: From "niche memes" on 4Chan and Reddit to "love frogs" of celebrities

Why do we see so many different versions of "Pepé the Frog" today, instead of the "otaku" character in the original comics? This originated in early 2008, when American netizens posted the "Pepé the Frog" sticker to the 4Chan forum. Gradually, the character became a popular culture element among users of the forum. Founded in 2003, 4Chan is an early Internet social platform in the United States, similar to Taiwan's PTT. What is unique about it is that users use various stickers in discussions, which has spawned a large number of sticker culture and secondary creations.

"Pepe the Frog" stands out among many stickers because of a funny scene in his comics. When Pepe pees, he pulls his pants as low as possible. This funny scene happened to be seen by a friend and spread to other friends. When his friends teased him, he didn't feel embarrassed or even felt good about it, and responded "feels good man (feels good! Friend)". Comic author Matt Furie explained in an interview with knowyourmeme that the creative idea came from his cousin who would take off his pants to the bottom when he went to the toilet when he was a child. He found it very interesting as a child at the time.

It is precisely because of this sentence "I feel good" that it touched the hearts of 4Chan netizens. Many netizens use this sentence to defend the looked-down behaviors in their lives. On the one hand, this sentence has become a buzzword in the discussion forum. On the other hand, the "Pepe the Frog" who said this sentence has also begun to become a "meme" and a "meme" in many American discussion forums from 4Chan to Reddit. Later, netizens placed the face of "Pepe the Frog" on the faces of various characters. As "Pepe the Frog" continues to be "magically modified", "Pepe the Frog" is no longer the "Sad Frog" who says "Feels Good" with a smile and a crying face.

Subsequently, "Pepe the Frog" was no longer limited to niche forums, but gradually integrated into the mainstream culture of the European and American English-speaking world. When the famous American singer Kate Perry visited Australia in August 2014, she posted a picture on her Twitter with a "Pepe the Frog" crying face emoji, jokingly saying that jet lag made her feel like a "frog" cry. The tweet received 17,000 likes and 10,500 retweets in three years. In December of the same year, another famous American rapper, Nicki Minaj, shared a picture of "Pepe the Frog" with a dull expression on Instagram, saying that she was "trying to attract more fans' attention." "Pepe the Frog" actually appeared on the social media of these two heavyweight superstars, which shows how deeply he has penetrated into the hearts of the people.

Australian jet lag got me like pic.twitter.com/kriAAd6mZe

— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) November 8, 2014

2015 to 2017: The author reluctantly put himself to death as a right-wing American voter "Lucky Frog"

"Pepe the Frog" is so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people that he has been appropriated in different anti-social and morally controversial issues, such as: flying a plane into the Twin Towers in the United States, Islamic State beheading captured terrorists, and even the most sensitive topics in Europe and the United States. Nazism. This also makes the "feel good" frog no longer make people feel good.

Later, "Pepe the Frog" became involved in US election issues starting in 2015. The then US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump issued a tweet in October 2015. The picture in the tweet is of "Pepe the Frog" with his oily hair and chin in his signature pose, a classic Trump image, and is accompanied by the statement "You Can't Stump the Trump" . "Pepe the Frog" has become a beloved meme among Trump supporters. In particular, Trump supporters are often considered to be white racist, Nazi, and right-wing, making him a deviant in American popular culture. The New York Times, BBC and many other international media regard Pepe as a symbol of hate. Trump even created "Pepe the Frog" to stand with him.

The team of Hillary Cliton, the Democratic candidate competing against Trump for president, finally published the article Donald Trump Pepe the frog and white supremacists in September 2016, criticizing "Pepe the frog" for becoming "a symbol of white supremacy" ( symbol associated with white supremacy). Even though the author of "Pepe the Frog" tried to vindicate "Pepe the Frog", get rid of its right-leaning, hateful image and emphasize its peace-loving image. It was difficult to turn the tide, and finally author Matt Furie chose to publish a new comic titled Rest in Peace, Pepe: The meme's creator kills off the frog hijacked by the alt-right in May 2017. The title of the theme announced Pepe's death and pointed out that it was caused by the "meme" of far-right massacre.

2019: Reborn as a symbol of Hong Kong’s “anti-extradition bill”

Although the "Pepe the Frog" meme is so deeply rooted in English-speaking pop culture, its popularity in the Chinese-speaking world is still limited. Until the large-scale social movement broke out in Hong Kong in 2019, many people used "Peppa's Frog" as a symbol of resistance to create promotional materials, props, etc., and dressed "Peppa's Frog" in the costumes of demonstrators. Only then began to slowly enter the Chinese world. This also brought "Pepe the Frog" to the attention of the world again. The New York Times reported with the title "Hong Kong Protesters Love Pepe the Frog. No, They're Not Alt-Right", pointing out that "Pepe the Frog" is no longer The image of the far right in the controversy of American politics.

Although the author had declared the death of Peppa Frog, Hong Kong protesters wrote to the author pointing out that Peppa Pig was a symbol of the fight for democracy. Author Matt Furie replied to the email "this is good news! pepe for the people" (This is good news! "Pepe the Frog" belongs to the people), which also confirms the rebirth of "Pepe the Frog". Later, the transformation of the meaning of "Pepe the Frog" was filmed into the documentary "Pepe the Frog: Feels Good Man", which was screened at the 2020 Taipei Film Festival, sparking discussion in Taiwan.

2021: The author releases "Pepe the Frog" comic NFT

With the rise of NFT, "Pepe the Frog" has ushered in its first "reincarnation" in the blockchain. Although "Pepe the Frog" was declared dead by the author because of its misappropriated meaning, "Pepe the Frog" was regained due to NFT. In April 2021, the author Matt Furie cast the "feels good man" comic that made "Pepe the Frog" famous into an NFT, which was bought for Ethereum worth nearly US$100,000 at the time. Later, it cooperated with PegzDAO and launched the "Pepe Frog" style NFT series - Pegz in October of the same year.

From 2005 to 2023, the symbol of "Pepe the Frog" has been constantly changing. Compared with the "Doge" meme, it has become more deeply embedded in English and even global pop culture, and has even become a childhood memory of many people. This time the “Pepe the Frog” meme coin project announced on the homepage of its official website,

The most popular meme coin in existence. Dogecoin is obsolete, it’s time for Pepe to dominate.

In addition to cultural significance, unlike previous meme coins, $PEPE tokens did not conduct pre-sales. The official even destroyed the liquidity pool tokens (LP tokens) at the beginning of the issuance to attract the attention of investors. , and the official subsequently announced that it had given up contract rights (promising to never conduct Rugpull). This also shows that it is no accident that $PEPE has entered the top 100 cryptocurrencies, and it also indicates its differences in culture and issuance.

Thank you all for your support, see you next time!