'Delete Coinbase' Campaign Picks Up Momentum Over Labeling Of Pepe Meme As 'Hate Symbol'

The cryptocurrency trading platform owned by Coinbase Global Inc. COIN, has come under fire for allegedly describing Pepe, a popular internet meme, as a “hate symbol” in an email sent to its customers. 

What Happened: The email cited a decision by the Anti-Defamation League to place the frog-themed meme in its online hate symbol database in 2016.

Why is @coinbase sending out emails telling people that $pepe is an alt-right hate symbol?? pic.twitter.com/UNzClQlwwv

— borovik.eth (@3orovik) May 11, 2023

Following this, fans and holders of the Pepe Coin (PEPE)  expressed their disagreement with Coinbase’s characterization of the token. This has resulted in calls for the exchange to issue an apology and users announcing their plans to delete their accounts with Coinbase.

David Gohkhshtein, founder of Gokhshtein Media said, "Coinbase is about to lose a lot of clients for disrespecting PEPE."

Coinbase about to lose a lot of clients for disrespecting $PEPE. pic.twitter.com/NZpTtwqjla

— David Gokhshtein (@davidgokhshtein) May 11, 2023

Another user tweeted plans to delete Coinbase.

Once upon a time I was a @coinbase user but not anymore after seeing they called $pepe a hate symbol 🐸#DeleteCoinbase pic.twitter.com/l5PxfuvEiA

— PEPE TO $0.01 💚 (@PepeCZBinance) May 11, 2023

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Why It Matters: The controversy has sparked a social media frenzy, with the hashtag "#deletecoinbase" gaining more than 15,000 tweets in just two hours.

Pepe-holding members of crypto Twitter have also been urging leaders from several other cryptocurrency exchanges to list the token for trading since Binance listed it on May 5. 

However, Coinbase has not yet indicated whether or not it plans to list the Pepe token on its exchange.

Price Action: At the time of writing, PEPE was trading at  $0.000001774, down 8.52% in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.

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