A crypto pundit has issued a bold projection for the meme coin market, arguing that Pepe (PEPE) will overtake Shiba Inu (SHIB).
After the crypto market suffered a steep downturn in 2025, the meme sector entered this year with renewed momentum. This resurgence has fueled a fresh meme coin frenzy, lifting major assets such as Pepe, which surged by more than 60% over the past week. Meanwhile, Shiba Inu lagged, gaining just 22% during the same period.
Pepe to Outperform Shiba Inu This Year?
Consequently, pseudonymous crypto pundit Y00thereum highlighted Pepe’s standout performance and argued that PEPE could flip SHIB by April 20 or even earlier.
This bold projection was accompanied by a screenshot showing the market caps of both tokens. According to the data, PEPE remains significantly smaller than SHIB by market value, despite its recent explosive price performance. At the time of the screenshot, SHIB commands a market cap of $5.32 billion, while PEPE sits closer to $2.92 billion.
However, the projection underscores that PEPE would need to climb to around $0.00001266—an increase of roughly 1.8x—to match SHIB’s valuation. Such a move would lift PEPE’s market cap to approximately $5.33 billion.
Growth Required for PEPE to Flip SHIB
Meanwhile, both tokens have pulled back from their levels at the time of the analysis. Currently, SHIB commands a market cap of $5.11 billion and trades at $0.000008665 per token. In contrast, PEPE’s market cap stands at about $2.9 billion, with a unit price of $0.0000069.
At these levels, PEPE must rally by roughly 76.55% to close the gap. Y00thereum suggests this could happen on or before April 20, 2026.
Previous Forecasts
Notably, this is not the first time analysts have floated the idea that PEPE could overtake SHIB in the meme coin sector. In 2024, BecauseBitcoin CEO Max Schwartzman predicted that PEPE would flip SHIB during the 2024/2025 cycle, arguing that both tokens would emerge as the alpha and beta of the season.
Similarly, prominent PEPE advocate Pepetoshi Nakamoto warned that Shiba Inu risked losing its second-place ranking to PEPE. His data suggested that PEPE was only 69% away from achieving this milestone. Nevertheless, these forecasts have failed to materialize.
Shiba Inu has retained its position as the world’s second-largest meme coin by market value—a standing it has successfully defended since late 2021.
It is worth mentioning that the TRUMP meme coin overtook Shiba Inu in early 2025 during its launch frenzy. SHIB has since reclaimed the position.
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