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News - PEPE fans boycott Coinbase over hate quote
In a customer newsletter, Coinbase states that alt-right groups have been using Pepe as a hate symbol. Fans of the eponymous Memecoin PEPE are boycotting the crypto exchange.
Influencer Borovik.eth shared Coinbase's message on Twitter, causing outrage in the crypto community.
Why is @coinbase sending out emails telling people that $pepe is an alt-right hate symbol?? pic.twitter.com/UNzClQlwwv
— borovik.eth (@3orovik) May 11, 2023
Fans of Memecoin felt attacked by the token's description and are demanding an apology. One user stated that he wanted to sell his Coinbase shares and switch to rival exchange Gemini.
Solidity developer Kenobi also stressed that PEPE was "not a hate symbol" and spread the hashtag "#deletecoinbase". It has already entered the trending list with more than 14,000 tweets, according to data from Tweetbinder.
However, the information presented by Coinbase in the email is true. Indeed, Pepe was indeed used by the far-right Alt-Right movement in the US. The crypto exchange has not yet commented on the incidents. Coinbase's (COIN) share price has barely changed, actually rising 16 per cent in the past 5 days.
Meanwhile, the hype around PEPE continues unabated. Its market capitalisation was already past the billion mark, but has fallen back to US$644 million after a price drop.
