Pepe (PEPE) tokenomics

Pepe (PEPE) is a community-driven meme cryptocurrency launched on April 14, 2023, on the Ethereum blockchain. Designed primarily for entertainment purposes, it leverages the cultural significance of the "Pepe the Frog" meme to create a decentralized ecosystem. The project operates with a philosophy of simplicity and transparency, characterized by a "no-tax" policy and a renounced contract.

Issuance Mechanism

The issuance of PEPE followed a "stealth launch" model with no presale or public/private funding rounds. The total and maximum supply of PEPE is capped at 420,690,000,000,000 (420.69 trillion) tokens.

The issuance was designed to be immediate and final:

• Launch Style: Stealth launch with no initial coin offering (ICO) or venture capital involvement.
• Contract Status: The token contract has been renounced, meaning no new tokens can ever be minted, and the contract's parameters cannot be altered by any individual or entity.
• Deflationary Aspect: While there is no programmatic burn mechanism, the contract includes a manual "burn" function. Additionally, the initial liquidity provider (LP) tokens were burnt at launch to ensure the liquidity pool remains permanent and inaccessible to the creators.

Allocation Mechanism

The initial allocation of the 420.69 trillion PEPE tokens was divided into two primary categories to facilitate immediate decentralized trading and future growth:

As of late 2024, the vast majority of the supply (~99.97%) remains on the Ethereum network, with small portions bridged to BNB Smart Chain and Arbitrum.

Usage and Incentive Mechanism

PEPE is explicitly positioned by its creators as a "completely useless" token intended purely for entertainment. It does not confer any claims on capital, voting rights, or profit-sharing.

• Primary Usage: The token's main utility is as a medium of exchange within the meme coin ecosystem and for speculative trading. Historically, it provided access to the "Pepe Palace" Discord server, though this functionality has since been discontinued.
• Incentive Structure: PEPE utilizes a "tax-free" model, meaning no fees are redistributed to holders or the team during transactions. The primary incentive for holding is the potential for value appreciation driven by community growth and market demand.
• Staking: As of December 2024, the official Pepe project does not feature any native staking or liquidity provision rewards.

Locking Mechanism and Unlocking Time

Pepe does not follow a traditional vesting or unlocking schedule because the vast majority of the supply was made liquid at launch.

• Locking Status: There are no formal locking mechanisms or "unlocking" dates for the team or advisors, as no tokens were specifically allocated to them at the start.
• Liquidity Lock: The 93.1% of the supply sent to Uniswap is effectively locked forever because the LP tokens were burnt, preventing the removal of the initial liquidity.
• Multi-sig Security: The 6.9% reserved for exchanges was originally held in a multi-sig wallet. In August 2023, this wallet's security was compromised by former team members who stole approximately 16 trillion tokens. Following this event, the remaining tokens in the multi-sig (approximately 10 trillion) were moved to a new, secure control structure.
• Blacklisting: The contract includes a "blacklist" function that was used once shortly after launch to block an address that purchased approximately 0.60% of the supply. Because the contract is renounced, this address can never be removed from the blacklist.

Information regarding specific future token unlocks is not applicable to PEPE, as the supply is already almost entirely in circulation.