At the launch of the popular memecoin Pepe, its website claimed it was a coin for the people. All tokens were supposedly launched secretly without fuss, and the team had received nothing. As it turns out, the reality is quite different.
The Origin of the Pepe Cryptocurrency #
According to research from Bubblemaps, a firm that investigates and visualizes crypto networks, approximately 30% of Pepe’s initial supply was controlled by a single individual. This person sold $2 million worth of tokens just one day after the launch. The holder had a cluster of wallets where these tokens were stored.
In a post on X, Bubblemaps stated they looked back in time and found that 30% of the supply at launch was in the hands of one entity. “You have been lied to,” said Bubblemaps.
They suggest that this story indicates there was heavy early selling pressure, which hindered the rapid growth of Pepe’s market value.
Infected Website #
However, this did not prevent Pepe from going completely parabolic last year. For instance, one trader turned his $2,000 investment into $43 million by continuing to hold the token. He eventually cashed out at $10 million after a major attack on Pepe’s price.
In December 2025, the Pepe website was exploited by what is known as an “inferno drainer.” This is a suite of scam programs used for various malicious activities, including a phishing tool, a wallet drainer (which empties your wallet), and several social engineering scam tools that use psychological manipulation.
How Does Forensic Research Work in Crypto? #
Bubblemaps launched a forensic analysis tool in May called “Time Travel.” This tool allows users to reconstruct the historical distribution of tokens. It can be used to detect early insider activity or coordinated accumulation, helping to identify or prevent rug pulls (dumping all tokens at market price, crashing the value to zero) and memecoin scams.
Bubblemaps played a significant role in exposing suspicious activity from wallets associated with several memecoins, including the Melania token and a series of fake tokens themed around Eric Trump.
The firm also noted several similarities between the downfall of the WOLF token, based on the Wolf of Wall Street, and the Melania and Libra tokens. These tokens were all created by Hayden Davis.