The crypto community associated with the PEPE memecoin has expressed significant displeasure following an email from Coinbase labeling the Pepe meme as a “hate symbol” exploited by alt-right groups.
Borovik.eth, a notable cryptocurrency influencer, shared a screenshot of Coinbase’s email newsletter dated May 10 with his 96,000 followers. The email referenced a 2016 decision by the Anti-Defamation League to categorize the frog-themed character as an online hate symbol.
The characterization of the token incensed the memecoin’s followers and holders, leading to demands for Coinbase to apologize. In response, some users have begun closing their Coinbase accounts.
A Twitter user and solidity developer, Kenobi, argued that Pepe is not a hate symbol and announced his intention to shift his funds to the US-based crypto exchange, Gemini. He ended his tweet with the hashtag “#deletecoinbase”.
The hashtag “#deletecoinbase” has since become a trending topic on Twitter, amassing more than 14,000 tweets in the last two hours, according to Tweetbinder data.
After Binance added the token for trading on May 5, other members of the Crypto Twitter community who hold Pepe have been urging various cryptocurrency exchanges to also list the token. Coinbase, however, has given no hint as to whether it plans to add the Pepe token to its platform.
When approached for comment, a Coinbase representative stated that the exchange had “nothing further to add” in an email to Cointelegraph.
Interestingly, Cameron Winkelvoss, CEO of Gemini, seems to have paid attention to the community’s request. On May 9, the Winklevoss-owned crypto exchange added the memecoin for trading, providing a more neutral description of the new token.
Following the news about Coinbase’s email, the price of Pepe dropped 2.6%. At the time of writing, Pepe was trading at $0.00000184, marking a decrease of 10.4% over the past 24 hours, as per data from CoinGecko.
