A $575 Investment in a Shiba-Inspired Token Surges to $1.17 Million in Just 5 Days

The memecoin season continues to yield life-changing trades for adventurous investors. An anonymous wallet acquired 2.79 billion ASTEROID tokens, valued at $575, on April 17, and sold the entire stake for 503 ETH on Tuesday, equivalent to approximately $1.17 million, as reported by the on-chain tracker Lookonchain. This transaction, which took just five days to complete, resulted in a staggering return of over 2,000%. ASTEROID is an Ethereum-based memecoin, branded as 'First Shiba In Space,' inspired by a Shiba Inu drawing created by Liv Perrotto, a teenage cancer patient who passed away in January 2026 after a five-year battle with the disease. Two years prior to her passing, Perrotto sketched the dog while volunteering on SpaceX's Polaris Dawn ground support team. The design, inspired by Elon Musk's own Shiba Inu, Floki, was flown on the Polaris Dawn mission in September 2024 as the crew's zero-gravity indicator. Before her passing, Perrotto had written down eight questions she hoped to ask Musk, including whether Asteroid could become SpaceX's official mascot. After her death, her mother shared the list publicly, and media personality Glenn Beck amplified it on April 16. The post went viral, reaching Musk, who responded with an 'ok' to making Asteroid the official SpaceX mascot. This response sparked a surge in the token's value. ASTEROID's market capitalization soared from approximately $50,000 to over $20 million within hours of Musk's reply and later exceeded $100 million with over $100 million in 24-hour trading volume. At its peak, the token briefly entered the top 200 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. As of Wednesday morning, it trades at $0.0004435 with a market capitalization of $186.5 million and a 24-hour trading volume of $24 million. The token lacks formal SpaceX endorsement, licensing arrangement, or confirmed Musk involvement beyond social media replies. It is traded on Uniswap against wrapped ether, with a market capitalization of $186.5 million and a 24-hour trading volume of $24.3 million. The price has increased by 20.69% over 24 hours, 28.54% over six hours, and has risen about 10 times from the wallet's entry point on April 17, according to DEX Screener data.