Coinbase

Memecoin Army Extracts Coinbase Apology After Botched Pepe Newsletter

Summary:

  • DeleteCoinbase trended globally on Twitter following intense backlash from Memecoin Pepe holders.
  • Pepe bulls threatening to close their Coinbase accounts trooped out in the thousands on social media.
  • The reactions charged out after the company’s newsletter called Pepe a “hate symbol” championed by far-right groups, citing a portion of the Anti-Defamation League’s opinion on Pepe The Frog.
  • Speculative traders continue to bask in memecoin mania.

Coinbase apologized to the Pepe memecoin community following roaring social media backlash after a company newsletter painted the frog-themed-meme as a “hate symbol”.

The email to users quoted an Anti-Defamation League’s publication on Pepe the Frog and internet symbols propagated by far-right groups.

The [PEPE] token is based on the Pepe the Frog meme, which first surfaced on the internet nearly 20 years ago as a comic-strip character. Over time it has been co-opted as a hate symbol by alt-right groups, according to the Anti-Defamation League,”

– From Coinbase’s newsletter

Thousands of Pepe bulls flooded crypto Twitter with #DeleteCoinbase posts after the newsletter dropped. Coinbase stock COIN bled as aggrieved Pepe supporters threatened to withdraw their assets and close their accounts on the crypto exchange. Some users also said they would switch to Gemini which supports PEPE trading.

One user highlighted another portion of the same ADL post that contradicts the platform’s presentation of Pepe meme culture.

‘We screwed up and we are sorry’ – Coinbase Chief Attorney

Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal tweeted to the Pepe community on behalf of the company. “This did not provide the whole picture of the history of the meme and we apologize to the community.”, said Grewal about the company’s newsletter.

The crypto exchange has been the subject of similar backlash on at least two other occasions.

For meme-coiners, the apology is another notch on the belt after a blitzing memecoin mania that has spiked gas fees on Bitcoin and Ethereum.