Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes Backs Memecoin PEPE With $250,000 Bet

Arthur Hayes, co-founder and former CEO of the cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX, has recently made headlines with significant investments in the memecoin sector, particularly through his notable purchase of Pepe (PEPE). 

Hayes’ optimism towards memecoins, expressed in a recent social media post on X (formerly Twitter), has coincided with a significant surge in PEPE’s value, reflecting a broader resurgence in interest within the crypto market.

On-chain analytics platform Lookonchain revealed that Hayes invested $250,000 in PEPE by purchasing approximately 24.39 billion tokens on Binance on Friday. This investment comes as PEPE is experiencing a notable upward trajectory, reaching its highest price in nearly three months at $0.0000109. 

CoinGecko data shows that the token has recorded impressive gains of 34%, 45%, and 38% over the past week, two weeks, and month, respectively. The recent price movements of PEPE are further supported by a substantial increase in trading volume, which surged by 41% in the last 48 hours to nearly $2.5 billion.

This uptick in trading activity is indicative of heightened investor interest, likely fueled by a bullish sentiment following the US Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates on September 18, which has provided a favorable environment for various cryptocurrencies, including the memecoin sector.

Currently trading at $0.0000107, PEPE is up 17% in the latest trading hours. However, it remains down 37% from its all-time high of $0.0000171 reached in May. Despite this decline, Hayes’s endorsement appears to be a catalyst for continued investor interest.

Hayes’s involvement in the memecoin space extends beyond PEPE. He has also shown support for two other tokens: Mog Coin (MOG) and the Mother Iggy (MOTHER) token, associated with Australian singer Iggy Azalea and built on the Solana blockchain. 

While Lookonchain has not confirmed whether Hayes invested in these tokens as he did with PEPE, his endorsement has already positively impacted MOG’s price, which is currently trading at $0.00000165—a gain of over 10% following Hayes’s announcement.

MOG has recorded a colossal year-to-date surge of 10,398%, alongside a 5.70% increase in trading volume. Despite these gains, it remains 32% below its peak of $0.0000024 reached in July.

Conversely, the MOTHER token has struggled to maintain momentum, trading down nearly 14% in the past 24 hours. However, it has seen substantial gains of 75% over the last week and 176% in the past two weeks, signaling that it remains an asset of interest despite recent volatility.

Overall, Haye’s support for the memecoin sector shows the traction that this part of the market has gained over the past year in particular, outperforming the largest cryptocurrencies on the market by a clear margin.

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com