In the 2021-2022 bull market cycle, the Shiba Inu meme coin made waves in a way that changed the face of meme coins forever. This came after Dogecoin’s initial 36,000% rally, and Shiba Inu followed with a rally of over 1,000,000%. Naturally, this has led to the search for the meme coin that will replicate Shiba Inu’s move and so far the verdict has been that it will be the PEPE meme coin. One analyst elaborates on this and explains why PEPE could pull a similar stunt.
Why PEPE is the Shiba Inu of this cycle
Crypto analyst Rexha took to the X Platform (formerly Twitter) to discuss the current meme coin market and what investors could expect from it. To start with, they draw a parallel between the SAFEMOON and active Solana trader chart, showing a similarity between the two. For context, SAFEMOON was one of the 2021 meme coins that had a huge circulation but ultimately turned out to be a scam.
Related reading
Rexha pointed out that investors are often looking for the next big thing, as we saw in 2021 after the Dogecoin and Shiba Inu collects on the Ethereum blockchain. Traders had then switched to ‘cheaper’ blockchains in an attempt to chase the next runner, leading to many scams, culminating in SAFEMOON on the BNB Chain, according to the analyst.
Eventually, when the scams became too much and many traders were used as exit liquidity, the focus shifted back to the meme coins that started the run. That was the case at the time Dogecoin and Shiba Inuas traders realized this was a ‘safer’ bet.
This time, however, it’s not Dogecoin and Shiba Inu that are kicking off the meme coin season and taking the lead. According to the analyst, it was precisely PEPE companies that had fueled the Ethereum blockade.
The move to the Solana blockchain, Rexha explains, was the result of traders trying to chase new runners through a “cheap and fast” chain. But with projects like PumpFun having sucked a fair amount of liquidity out of the market, Solana’s ‘trenches’ are now largely extinct.
Related reading
Now that the trend is going through another full cycle, the crypto analyst expects traders to return to the meme coin that started it all, and that’s PEPE right here. Rexha calls this a “Return to Quality” on the Ethereum blockchain and predicts that PEPE’s second run will be similar to Shiba Inu’s second run.
The analyst also warns that with the second run of this PEPE, traders will be lured back in in hopes of having another run on other blockchains, such as a PumpFun “V2.” However, this is expected to be a ‘Final Extraction’ event, so it is imperative that traders exercise caution when dealing with meme coins.
Featured image of Dall.E, chart from TradingView.com