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

The memecoin season continues to generate life-altering trades for daring investors. On April 17, an anonymous wallet acquired 2.79 billion ASTEROID tokens for $575 and sold the entire stake for 503 ETH on Tuesday, worth approximately $1.17 million, as reported by on-chain tracker Lookonchain. This five-day round trip yielded a return exceeding 2,000x. 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 battling the disease for five years. Two years prior to her passing, Perrotto sketched the dog while volunteering for SpaceX's Polaris Dawn ground support team. The design, influenced by Elon Musk's Shiba Inu, Floki, was flown on the Polaris Dawn mission in September 2024 as the crew's zero-gravity indicator. Before her death, Perrotto had written down eight questions for Musk, including one asking if Asteroid could become SpaceX's official mascot. After her passing, her mother shared the list, which went viral and caught Musk's attention, prompting him to agree to make Asteroid the official SpaceX mascot. This response sparked a surge in the token's value, with its market capitalization rising from approximately $50,000 to over $20 million within hours of Musk's reply, eventually exceeding $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. Although the token lacks formal SpaceX endorsement, licensing arrangement, or confirmed Musk involvement beyond social media, it continues to trade on Uniswap against wrapped ether, with its price increasing by 20.69% over 24 hours, 28.54% over six hours, and climbing about 10x from the investor's entry point on April 17, according to DEX Screener data.