From cointelegraph by Zoltan Vardai

A cryptocurrency trader has reportedly turned a $27 investment in the Pepe memecoin into an extraordinary $52 million profit, according to blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain.

An unknown Pepe PEPE$0.00002319 trader bagged the life-changing profits, crypto intelligence firm Lookonchain revealed in a Dec. 14 X post.

“A $PEPE whale that had been dormant for 600 days transferred all 2.1T $PEPE($52M) to a new address… From $27 to $52 million — an extraordinary 1,900,000x return!”

Despite having no intrinsic utility, memecoins have created many new millionaires among crypto investors. In May, another savvy trader turned $3,000 into $46 million trading the Pepe token, making an over 15,700-fold return on investment.

Related: Ethereum poised for record highs in Q1 2025, analysts predict

Pepe rallies 1,600% YTD as second-best performing crypto of 2024

Memecoins have proven to be some of the best-performing cryptocurrencies of the year based on their returns.

Year-to-date, Pepe rallied over 1,600% as the second-best performer in the top 100 cryptocurrencies, followed by the Solana-based Dogwifhat WIF$2.84 meme token, which is up 1,400% as the third-best performer.

However, the Mantra (OM) governance token has outperformed all memecoins, soaring over 16,600% in 2024, Cryptobubbles data shows.

Related: PEPE whale up nearly $5M on investment within a month

While technical analysis is often inaccurate for memecoins, some crypto traders predict more upside for Pepe.

Pepe may be the current bull run’s Dogecoin DOGE$0.4025, which makes it the “king of this cycle,” according to Max Schwartzman, CEO of Because Bitcoin.

The continued success of memecoins can be seen as a symptom of the younger generation’s disappointment in the financial system, according to Hao Yang, the head of financial products at Bybit.

“The success of memecoins can be seen, like punk rock, as a symptom of disillusioned young investors who have seen the opportunities afforded to their parents disappear,” Yang told Cointelegraph.

Memecoin trading carries significant volatility. During the $1.7 billion crypto market liquidation on Dec. 10, some top memecoins emerged as the worst-performing tokens.