- Firm valuation based on Anti-Defamation League decision
- This organization listed Pepe the frog as a “hate symbol” in 2016.
- The reason was the popularity of the character among members of the right-wing movement.
Yesterday, May 10, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase sent out an e-mail to some of its customers, which highlighted the topic of fever in the meme-coin market. Among other things, the PEPE token is also mentioned there. That’s just the company calls it a “symbol of hatred”, which caused a flurry of criticism from members of the community.
Text of the letter can be found in the archive on the exchange website. The article is titled “Behind the memecoin frenzy”. And here is a screenshot in case the material is removed from the resource:
As you can see, Coinbase is referring to the 2016 Anti-Defamation League decision. In it, indeed, Pepe the frog appears as a “symbol of hatred.”
In this list, in addition to the well-known meme, there is also the emblem of the KKK, the “Cross in the form of a drop of blood” and many other racist and neo-Nazi signs, as well as symbols of right-wing groups.
Where did it come from?
Directly in the image of the character there is nothing of the kind. The reason was a wave of memes with Pepe the frog in the form of the Third Reich and a white hood, which literally swept Twitter in 2016.
In particular, the frog has become one of the symbols of the Alt-Right group. Members of the movement, described as “an alternative to mainstream conservatism,” actively used the meme in offensive publications.
Community reaction
Such an assessment of the token by a large CEX caused outrage among members of the community. Some, for example, a large investor with the nickname “Kenobi” do declaredwhich will close personal and corporate accounts on the platform.
He and many other members of the community demanded an apology from Coinbase and personally Armstrong, the company’s CEO. In a comment for Cointelegraph a spokesman for the exchange said the firm had “nothing more to add to what has already been said.” Apparently, they do not plan to abandon their statement at Coinbase. Do you want to know more about PEPE? Here you will find a detailed overview of the token from Incrypted.
