A mysterious cryptocurrency whale has made a splash on the memecoin market after moving nearly $8 million worth of $PEPE from Binance, effectively withdrawing 592 billion tokens after the recent price rise.

According to on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain, the whale likely bought the tokens as the price of PEPE surged. PEPE, it’s worth noting,  recently moved to new highs, having recently briefly surpassed the $0.000014 mark before correcting slightly. Its gains came amid a wider cryptocurrency market rally that added over $200 billion to the space’s total market capitalization.

The catalyst for the broader market surge appears to be news related to the potential approval of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has abruptly requested that the exchanges that want to list and trade these funds update key filings related to these products, fueling speculation that the regulator is considering approving these products.

The surge saw an early investor in the meme-inspired cryptocurrency who put in just over $460 when it was first launched cash out, realizing a gain of nearly 740,000% after their $460 appreciated to around $3.4 million.

Looking into the wallet of the trader, data shows that the trader often invests in newly launched memecoins hoping one will take off. The investor was early on several popular memecoins, but also seemingly on several memecoins that faded away soon after being launched, according to Etherscan data.

PEPE’s upward trend has attracted the attention of some cryptocurrency analyst, with popular trader Altcoin Sherpa noting that those looking for a “big cap meme to long” should consider PEPE as it has “good liquidity, strong volume.”

DonAlt, another popular analyst, warned of a potential bubble in the memecoin market, with valuations susceptible to dramatic corrections. Citing historical data, DonAlt predicted that popular memecoins, including PEPE, could experience crashes exceeding 80%.

Featured image via Pixabay.