Roaring Kitty Returns: $PEPE Hits All-Time Highs!
After a three-year hiatus, Keith Gill, the GameStop trader known as Roaring Kitty, has made a comeback on Twitter, causing meme stocks and meme coins to skyrocket in price.
Roaring Kitty, who gained fame for orchestrating the “retail investor vs Wall Street” battle, made a reappearance on May 12th with a tweet featuring an image of a man holding a remote control and leaning forward. Users on Twitter and Reddit interpreted this tweet as Roaring Kitty entering a “lock-in” phase, which is an internet slang term that signifies focused attention or concentration.
The tweet not only caused GameStop ($GME) to surge over 100% but also led to a surge in meme coins in the cryptocurrency market. Among them, $PEPE, a meme coin, garnered the most attention with a trading volume increase of 245% in the past 24 hours, reaching a staggering $1.56 billion. Its market value also rose to $4.31 billion, surpassing Ethereum Classic ($ETC) and becoming the 23rd largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
What is the allure of Roaring Kitty, and why is he able to influence the world of meme coins? Let’s delve into the reasons behind this phenomenon.
Further reading:
Meme Coin Party! Is “Altcoin” Season Coming? Analysts Determine Based on Two Major Signs
The Legendary Story of Roaring Kitty and GameStop
Roaring Kitty became a prominent figure during the meme stock frenzy of 2021. Through Reddit’s subreddit “WallStreetBets,” he successfully rallied thousands of retail investors to challenge Wall Street’s large hedge funds, leading to a massive surge of over 1,000% in the prices of stocks like GameStop and AMC within a short period of time. However, in June of the same year, after posting a video of a sleeping kitten, Roaring Kitty disappeared from the online world.
If you’re interested in this historical episode, you can watch the movie “Dumb Money,” which is based on the true story of Roaring Kitty and GameStop.
This year, Roaring Kitty reemerged, once again driving up the GameStop stock price, and even triggering a trading halt at one point. It’s worth mentioning that due to the absence of circuit breakers and price limits in the cryptocurrency market, this phenomenon led to mockery from crypto enthusiasts.
Moreover, the meme-driven crypto market has seen the emergence of various GameStop-themed meme coins, such as GME Stonks, GameOver, and KiethGillWifHat. However, most of these tokens were short-lived and quickly faded away.
Why are meme coins in the crypto world also benefiting?
In simple terms, GameStop’s story represents the power of memes. GameStop represents the story of small retail investors triumphing over big hedge funds, and this spirit of resistance is also reflected in the cryptocurrency market, becoming a symbol of meme coins fighting against Wall Street. GameStop’s valuation skyrocketed, exceeding rational estimates by tenfold or even a hundredfold, solely due to the power of “meme culture.”
Roaring Kitty and his supporters are very similar to meme coin enthusiasts. They rely not on “rational analysis,” “fair valuation,” or “value investing” like traditional investors but are driven by “passion” and “belief,” hence the term “dumb money.”
In the cryptocurrency world, these groups of supporters are referred to as “cults.” Cult members exhibit the characteristic of wholeheartedly recruiting others once they’ve identified a target and are unlikely to sell their meme coins easily.
These investors often hold dreams of making a fortune through meme coins, and meme coins also provide immense emotional value. For example, the rapidly rising Doge Hat coin ($WIF) at the end of last year led to many holders and major crypto brands adorning their avatars with the iconic dog hat, symbolizing membership in the Doge Hat community.
The crypto community believes that Roaring Kitty’s return this year, along with the surge in GameStop and meme coins, combined with the fact that the crypto market embodies the spirit of memes even more than the stock market (with no trading halts), opens up new possibilities for meme coins.
In the market, many people believe that “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.” In the previous cryptocurrency bull market, Dogecoin ($DOGE) surged 100-fold within three months after the GameStop frenzy, igniting a frenzy of meme coins. Therefore, it is natural for the crypto community to associate and link the GameStop event with meme coins, believing that the same passion and power can be replicated in the crypto market.
References:
– Cointelegraph
– Decrypt
– Coindesk
– The Block