The popularity of cryptocurrencies as an investment or alternative to fiat currencies has fluctuated significantly since Bitcoin's launch in 2009. While some were lucky enough to benefit from early investments in successful cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, some have lost out after backing new crypto that has since crashed.
Despite the slump in the current crypto market, which has largely affected the more established cryptocurrencies, some new options are thriving.
Pepe Unchained ($PEPU) is one newly-launched option that is seeing continued growth and could be one of the best crypto presales for some time.
Why the crypto market has slumped
Legacy crypto has lost around a quarter of its value since hitting a high in March, causing consternation among investors and financial analysts. The most established cryptocurrencies have been hit, with investors getting cold feet and looking to sell assets quickly.
Earlier in the year Bitcoin went through its halving process, where mining rewards are reduced by 50%. The idea behind this is to create scarcity and raise prices in static market conditions.
Since then, Germany's decision to liquidate its seized Bitcoin and a dip in the global stock market in August has resulted in many investors rushing to sell digital assets, causing a drop in value.
This is not the first drop in value this year, with the cryptocurrency market dropping to $1.95trn from $2.51trn in May.
The decision from investors to sell bigger cryptocurrencies has been good news for new market options that have benefitted during their launch periods and continued to grow.
Pepe unchained taking over from $PEPE
Following the success of $PEPE in 2023, its successor Pepe Unchained ($PEPU) is set to take the market by storm. $PEPE (Pepe Coin) launched on the Ethereum blockchain in April 2023 and quickly became one of the most traded cryptocurrencies.
When compared with other memecoins, $PEPE's success is very impressive, surpassing $1 billion in market capitalization in just three weeks. To give this perspective, it took Dogecoin four years to reach this level.
Using the popular Pepe the Frog meme, the project was instantly recognizable, and its social media presence helped it get off to a great start.
More than 93% of its 4.2 billion maximum supply tokens were liquid at the time of launch, and the coin used a deflationary mechanism that saw a small percentage of the tokens burned after each transaction. This was used to create scarcity and drive value.
Despite the positive start, concerns were raised when $15 million worth of $PEPE tokens were transferred from the project's wallet. This saw trust in the crypto drop with negative social media attention resulting in a drop in value.
A change of staff and direction helped get support back on track, but the news that $PEPU is performing so well will be another blow to the original Pepe crypto.
A closer look at Pepe Unchained
As investors continue to back away from major crypto names, they are instead looking at those with the most potential. There are some great ICOs (initial coin offerings) available at present, with investors able to get in on the ground floor when coin value is typically at its lowest.
$PEPU is a layer 2 ICO that has already exceeded $11 million in investment, making it one of the best options available.
Pepe Unchained explained
One of the reasons that $PEPU has attracted so much early investment is because of the benefits associated with crypto layer 2 solutions. They work by directing transactions away from the main blockchain to be processed. this helps to reduce potential network congestion which reduces processing times.
Layer 2 solutions also offer a secure and scalable option that reduces transaction fees. $PEPU's transaction speeds are 100 times faster than Ethereum and improved staking rewards.
The cryptocurrency's tokenomics is based on a total token amount of 8,000,000,000 with 20% dedicated to its presale. An impressive 30% is set for staking with double rewards available for early investors, and a further 20% goes towards marketing with the meme coin requiring a strong social presence to continue its ascent.
Liquidity
$PEPU offers a generous 10% liquidity for decentralized exchanges, 10% towards project finance to ensure operations and development run smoothly, and 10% is reserved for $PEPU's Layer 2 chain.
The only real negatives associated with $PEPU ICO investment are associated with early investment risks that are common with any new project and its dependency on community engagement. However, since launching in June, it has raised more than $11.5 million and increased in value by 17.78% from $0.008 to $0.0094226.
Its high-speed transactions, low-cost transaction speeds, and instant Pepe Chain and ETH bridging have appealed to early investors, and its double staking rewards dedicated block explorer are also benefits that should see more investors exploring this option.
Transparency
The popularity of meme coins and their current performance in comparison with more established cryptocurrencies make them an excellent investment opportunity. However, investors are running out of time to get on board the $PEPU train as its popularity continues to grow.
The launch's transparency has also been key to its success, with the days of mystery being a fun part of crypto investment a thing of the past. $PEPU has included the SOLIDProof and Coinslult audit on their site so potential investors can check through it and invest with confidence.
In order to gain investment, $PEPU laid out its roadmap to success in three stages. The first is "Make Pepe Great Again" which saw the new crypto make use of the latest Layer 2 technology to provide the best service and rewards available.
Stage 2 is named "Coin Eruption" and reveals the double staking rewards available to investors during the presale. The third stage centers around layer 2 blockchain deployment and token distribution.
Improved version
By styling itself as an improved version of traditional meme coins, potential investors get a good idea of what they are investing in with additional benefits.
Investors and those interested in learning more about Pepe Unchained can keep up to date with all the latest news by following the official X (Twitter) account or joining its Telegram Channel.
Purchase methods for $PEPU include ETH, USDT, BNB, and card payments, making it an accessible option for those looking to diversify their digital asset portfolio, move away from the bigger cryptocurrencies, or invest in a new crypto that has the potential to rise in value.
What we've learned
No investment is completely without risk, and cryptocurrency ICOs are not immune to this. However, Pepe Unchained ($PEPU) has already had a great start and is competing well in a challenging financial climate.
Its decision to rely heavily on Layer 2 technology has proved to be wise, with its ability to outperform competitors putting it in a great position.
While the crypto market is likely to bounce back at some point, the fact that Pepe Unchained has been able to weather the storm so early in its life is a positive sign that could see it gather even more support.