An email sent out to Coinbase clients that described the Pepe meme as a “hate symbol” co-opted by alt-right organizations has generated substantial ire from the PEPE meme coin community.
Borovik.eth, a prominent crypto influencer, took a screenshot of the email newsletter dated May 10 and published it with his 96,000 followers. He referenced a decision made by the Anti-Defamation League in 2016 to include the frog-themed figure in its database of online hate symbols.
The description of the token infuriated both fans of the frog-themed meme coin and holders of the cryptocurrency. As a result, there have been demands for Coinbase to make an apology, and customers have begun canceling their accounts with the cryptocurrency exchange.
Pseudonymous Twitter user and solidity developer Kenobi said Pepe is not a sign of hatred. Consequently, he would be shifting assets to the crypto exchange Gemini, which is situated in the United States. He concluded his statement with the hashtag: “#deletecoinbase.”
Since Binance made the token available for trade on May 5, users of crypto Twitter who own Pepe have requested several cryptocurrency exchanges’ leaders to include the token.
Coinbase has yet to provide a lot of hints or indications about whether or not it plans to add the Pepe cryptocurrency to its exchange yet.
PEPE price drops ahead of Coinbase statement
Hours after the news of Coinbase’s description began spreading on Twitter, the price of Pepe saw a decline of 14%. Pepe was trading at $0.00000166 at press time with a 12% decrease.