Coinbase receives backlash after classifying Pepe as a hate symbol

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Updated: 11 May 2023

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The PEPE meme coin launched around three weeks ago took the crypto market by storm. The coin rallied and was quickly listed by exchange giants such as Binance, KuCoin, and Crypto.com. However, the Coinbase exchange appears to be taking a different route, and it has now classified Pepe the Frog as a hate symbol. The move has attracted backlash from the PEPE meme coin community.

Coinbase says Pepe is a hate symbol

The Coinbase exchange sent emails to its customers where it described the Pepe the Frog meme as a “hate symbol.” A screenshot of this newsletter shared on Twitter referred to a decision made by the Anti-Defamation League in 2016. The league has classified the frog-themed character as one of the online hate symbols.

Why is @coinbase sending out emails telling people that $pepe is an alt-right hate symbol?? pic.twitter.com/UNzClQlwwv

— borovik (@3orovik) May 11, 2023

“The token is based on the Pepe the Frog meme, which first surfaced on the internet nearly 20 years ago as a comic-strip character. Over time it has been co-opted as a hate symbol by alt-right groups according to the Anti-Defamation League,” the Coinbase newsletter said.

The Pepe community has criticized Coinbase for classifying the token as a hate symbol. The community has also made calls for Coinbase to apologize for its statement on the matter. Some users even said they would delete their accounts on Coinbase and short COIN stock if the exchange failed to retract its statement.

https://twitter.com/OG_Kenobi_Hello/status/1656476914280722434

The Pepe meme coin community on Twitter has promoted the hashtag #deletecoinbase as a reaction to the exchange’s failure to support the third-largest meme coin in the industry after Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. Since this hashtag started trending, it has received over 45,000 tweets, according to Tweetbinder.

New PePe meme coin garners interest

As aforementioned, PEPE was launched around three weeks ago, but within this short period, it has become one of the most traded cryptocurrencies in the market. Since its launch, the meme coin has rallied by nearly 3,000%.

However, PEPE appears to be losing the bullish momentum because, in the last 24 hours, it has dropped by 12%. The token was trading at $0.0000017, according to data from CoinGecko. The coin has a market capitalization of $716 million and ranks as the 62^nd largest cryptocurrency in the market.

Meme coins historically have a tendency for their prices being highly volatile. The price tends to change based on speculation. The massive price growth seen in PEPE could also be attributed to the coin’s listing on top exchanges.

Binance announced it would list PEPE on its Innovation Zone on May 5. The Pepe meme coin community members on Twitter have also been urging other top exchanges to list the token. Coinbase, the largest exchange in the US, has not confirmed whether it will list PEPE.

Gemini was the latest exchange to list PEPE. On May 9, the Winklevoss-owned exchange announced it would list the meme coin. The token can be traded through multiple trading pairs on the Gemini app and websites.

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