Significant activity from major Ethereum investors has reignited interest in leading memecoins, with two dormant wallets synchronously moving a total of 2.27 trillion PEPE tokens valued at $10.19 million. These large transactions have drawn renewed attention to speculative assets on the Ethereum network, particularly PEPE and Shiba Inu (SHIB).
Whale transfers drive market momentum
The first wallet, previously inactive for a year and linked to deposits at US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, transferred $6.53 million worth of PEPE. The second wallet ended a four-month pause with a $3.66 million transaction. Large-scale transfers from long-inactive addresses typically signal that investors may plan to take profit via exchanges.
However, instead of prompting a price drop, the market absorbed the selling pressure swiftly. Within a twelve-hour window, 84% of total trading volume occurred during the six hours following the whale activity, with buyers quickly purchasing the available supply. This rapid response demonstrated the intense demand surrounding PEPE at the time.
Instead of a collapse, the sudden movement of large PEPE holdings triggered a surge in trading activity, with trading volumes peaking as buyers matched the supply from major wallets in just a few hours.
PEPE closes in on SHIB, market cap gap narrows
On the charts tracked by TradingView, PEPE posted a daily gain of 10.8%, while SHIB rose by 1.66%. Following this spike, the market capitalization difference between SHIB and PEPE narrowed to $1.06 billion, marking the smallest gap to date. The two memecoins have increasingly diverted speculative liquidity away from other segments of the crypto market, positioning their rivalry at the center of activity on the Ethereum network.
| Memecoin | Daily Price Change | Market Capitalization Gap |
|---|---|---|
| PEPE | +10.8% | -$1.06 billion below SHIB |
| SHIB | +1.66% | Leading |
Major holders dominate supply
The surge in trading activity and price was also matched by revelations from blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence. According to the latest data, Justin Sun, founder of the blockchain platform Tron, expanded his PEPE holdings significantly over the past ten days, now controlling 2.82% of the token’s total supply, valued at $51.25 million.
Mini dictionary: Arkham Intelligence is a blockchain analytics company that provides tools for tracking cryptocurrency transactions and identifying wallet ownership patterns among major network participants.
Further analysis showed that just two dozen wallets now control nearly 94.66% of the entire PEPE supply. This significant level of concentration means that a handful of large holders have substantial influence over the token’s market trajectory.
The actions of whales such as Justin Sun have already shifted the balance of power, reducing the market cap gap between SHIB and PEPE, and highlighting the heightened impact of large holders in memecoin dynamics.
The rivalry between SHIB and PEPE, driven by whale activity, continues to define the competitive landscape of Ethereum-based memecoins as speculative liquidity pours into these assets.
