EXCLUSIVE: Crypto Trader Turns 1 ETH into $140,000 With $PEPE: ‘That’s the Beauty Of The Space’

Investors in the cryptocurrency space often fall into several camps, those who hold the largest coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and those who invest in altcoins, also known as sh*tcoins. A trader turned an investment of around one Ethereum ETH/USDor around $2,000 to $140,000.

What happened: Over the past two weeks, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies has been Pepe PEPE/USD. Reports have surfaced of investors taking hundreds or thousands of dollars and turning it into hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.

Benzinga spoke to one of the traders who was once among the biggest Pepe owners to find out how it all went down.

One trader, who wished to remain anonymous, told Benzinga that they started trading cryptocurrency during the “Covid phase.”

“I’m in a sales job and it was pretty slow when they shut everything down,” the trader said.

Trading started by buying Ethereum at around $1000 and getting into non-fungible tokens quite early.

“Just sort of went down the rabbit hole.”

Among the big gains in NFTs for the trader was minting 5 Azuki’sone of the hottest NFT projects in 2022.

When NFTs and cryptocurrencies faced setbacks, the trader sold the majority of his positions, paid taxes and waited for the next thing to invest in.

“Lost me like everyone else, only I try to buy things I think are undervalued.”

Enter PEPE

The trader told Benzinga that they first heard about Pepe on Twitter, with the account Dough Harambe post about the coin when it had a market value of about $20,000.

The trader said that with “sh*tcoins” you will usually be one of the first 100 holders, otherwise you may be used as exit liquidity for others. You also need some form of risk.

“Just like everyone else in space, I think you must have some degree of degenerate gambling problems.”

The trader put one Ethereum into Pepe for an investment of about $2000 with cryptocurrency trading with a market cap between $180,000 to $200,000 on Friday 7th. April.

It wasn’t until later in the morning on Sunday, April 9 that the trader saw how much Pepe had gotten.

“I’m at work, go home, meet friends for dinner, don’t even look at the phone, put the kids to bed.”

At 3:30 AM, the trader woke up to feed a newborn baby and saw that their Pepe investment had changed from one ETH to five ETH.

“Oh, might have something here. We might have a little lightning in a bottle here,” the trader recalled thinking.

On Saturday 8 April, the trader was at work and was in a hurry and did not have the opportunity to see Pepe very often. When they were able to check, it was revealed that one ETH was now worth about 10 ETH with coin trading with a market cap of over $1.3 million.

On Easter Sunday (9 April 2023) and the following Monday, Pepe went even higher and became a popular topic across social media.

The trader sold seven to eight ETH worth of Pepe on Sunday, money was withdrawn to help cover taxes on the investment, which can also be used to help with a new house purchase and renovation.

On Monday, the one ETH investment, plus the eight ETH withdrawn, was worth about 70 ETH.

The trader sold a large amount of the investment on Monday before buying back at a value of 7.5 ETH. On Tuesday, 7.5 ETH was worth around 30 ETH.

At the time of the interview, the trader had about 100 billion Pepe left, which was worth about $20,000 to $22,000. The trader turned that one ETH into around $140,000 considering what was sold and what was currently held.

At its peak, the original ETH invested was worth $1.2 million, but the fact that the coin was illiquid made it impossible to sell the entire amount without the coin going down significantly. Shortly after selling some Pepe, the trader realized they were the 14th largest holder at one point.

“You don’t want to be first, but you don’t want to be last.”

The trader said investing in Pepe was a risk, but one they thought made sense since there was no meme frog coin yet.

“It was worth the risk in my mind.”

Related Link: How to Buy Altcoins

What will be next: The trader told Benzinga that they would continue to invest in cryptocurrencies and NFTs, despite the fact that Pepe’s returns are a potential once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“This thing doesn’t happen often, it never does.”

The trader referred to cryptocurrency as “the casino that never sleeps.”

The trader has had several big hits over the years of investing in cryptocurrency. Along with buying into Pepe and Azuki NFTs early, the trader was also early on Shiba Inu SHIB/USD, investing in the coin on one of the first days. An investment in Shiba Inu gave the trader a gain of 2 ETH, but would be worth millions of dollars if they held.

“My portfolio is probably worth more now than it was during the bull market.”

The trader said that everyone is looking for a leg through side jobs and hustle.

“Crypto is like that for me. I like investing in crypto, because I think the multiples are there. That’s the beauty of the space.”

For Pepe and other crypto investments, the trader still preaches caution to others.

“You have to preach caution about this.”

The trader remembers getting messages from friends and traders when Pepe got up thinking it was already up over 40x when it started, why should you buy now?

“You don’t want anyone to lose money.”

The trader continues to have a small position in Pepe and hopes it will increase over time.

“Everyone knows Pepe, probably the oldest meme around. Hopefully it will be something bigger than it is today.”

The trader would not name any cryptocurrencies or NFTs they held outside of Azuki’s.

As for the future of Pepe and what could be next, the trader shared his final thought.

“Hopefully it goes higher one day.”

Read Next: 21,000% in 3 Days, Pepe The Frog Meme Coins Skyrocket As Crypto Twitter Shifts From Dogecoin

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