Crypto Trader Turns $2,500 Into $500K on Skyrocketing Ethereum Meme Coin

A meme coin dealer turned 1 Ethereum (ETH) or about $2,455 to almost $500,000 on Thursday after trading the rising Asteroid (ASTEROID) meme coin on the Ethereum network.

ASTEROID is up over 71,000% in the last 24 hours, from a market cap under $100,000 to almost $19 million at the time of writing. according to DEXScreener data.

The token, which is based on a Shiba Inu mascot called Asteroid, skyrocketed early Friday after a social media post from media personality Glenn Beck, which received a response from X owner and SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk.

Beck’s post highlighted Liv Perrotto’s storya teenage girl who he said kept a list of questions for Musk, but died of cancer in January without the chance to get them answered.

Her last question would have asked Musk whether Asteroid, the Shiba Inu mascot she created to act as a zero-g indicator for SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission in 2024, could become the face of SpaceX.

“I will reply soon,” Musk said in response to Beck’s post around 11:50 PM ET on Thursday. That post has now been viewed more than 1.3 million times on X.

Eight minutes later, an Ethereum address appears that ends with “EF99af” purchased 1 ETH worth of ASTEROID tokens, which were first launched on Ethereum 19 months ago. The purchase was good enough for more than 10 billion ASTEROID tokens.

As renewed attention around Perrotto and Asteroid blossomed with Musk’s response, the meme coin soared, quickly making the trader’s portfolio worth nearly $500,000.

At this moment “EF99af” is the top trader on the token according to DEXScreener’s top traders tab, locking in over $242,000 in profits from sales while maintaining a supply of around $180,000 worth of ASTEROID tokens.

Two other traders, “6E5Eae” and “9dE8db,” both purchased less than $10,000 worth of ASTEROID tokens, and have similarly raked in more than $150,000 in profits through sales.

The token has generated more than $43 million in 24-hour trading volume, making it the second most traded meme coin on blockchains in the past 24 hours, according to DEXScreener.

An ASTEROID token Solana follows closely behind, with more than $37 million in volumes over the same period.