Pepe Memecoin Rallies as L2 Ecosystem Emerges

- On-chain data reveals conflicting whale behavior; while some large holders have been accumulating, with one group adding 650 billion PEPE over a 30-day period, others have been selling. One long-term whale recently offloaded 858 billion tokens worth approximately $3.88 million. - The Pepe Unchained (PEPU) project is a separate, unaffiliated token that raised approximately $74 million in a 2024 presale by promising a dedicated Layer 2 blockchain for memecoins. However, the project encountered significant infrastructure problems, leading to a 98% price collapse and a forced migration to Arbitrum. - The original tokenomics for Pepe Unchained's 8 billion supply allocated 20% to the presale, 30% to staking rewards, and 10% to DEX liquidity. Following the migration to Arbitrum, the total supply doubled to 16 billion PEPU to facilitate the move. - The development of memecoin-specific Layer 2s is a growing trend, with Shiba Inu's Shibarium being a notable example. Shibarium, which went live in August 2023, aims to provide faster transactions and lower fees for the SHIB ecosystem, utilizing BONE as its gas token. - The promised "Pepe Chain" was intended to feature an ecosystem including a native decentralized exchange (PepuSwap), a block explorer (PepuScan), and an instant bridge to the Ethereum mainnet. - General-purpose Layer 2 networks like Coinbase's Base have also become popular venues for memecoin trading. Base saw a surge in activity and liquidity driven by memecoin mania, at one point flipping Ethereum in daily active addresses.