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

The current memecoin season has been generating life-altering trading opportunities for those willing to take risks. An anonymous wallet acquired 2.79 billion ASTEROID tokens, an Ethereum-based memecoin themed around a Shiba Inu drawing by the late teenage cancer patient Liv Perrotto, for $575 on April 17. The entire position was then sold for 503 ETH on Tuesday, equivalent to approximately $1.17 million, as reported by on-chain tracker Lookonchain. This transaction took place over a span of five days, resulting in a return exceeding 2,000x. ASTEROID is branded as 'First Shiba In Space' and features a design inspired by Elon Musk's Shiba Inu, Floki. The token's journey began when Perrotto, who volunteered for SpaceX's Polaris Dawn ground support team, sketched the dog two years before her passing. The design flew on the Polaris Dawn mission in September 2024 as the crew's zero-gravity indicator. Following Perrotto's death, her mother shared a list of questions she had written, including one asking if Asteroid could become SpaceX's official mascot. After media personality Glenn Beck amplified the post, it 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 market cap, rising from approximately $50,000 to over $20 million within hours of Musk's reply, and eventually exceeding $100 million with over $100 million in 24-hour trading volume. The token briefly entered the top 200 cryptocurrencies by market cap and currently trades at $0.0004435 with a market cap of $186.5 million and $24 million in 24-hour volume. Despite having no formal SpaceX endorsement, licensing arrangement, or confirmed Musk involvement beyond social media replies, the token continues to trade on Uniswap against wrapped ether, with its price increasing by 20.69% over 24 hours and 28.54% over six hours, marking a 10x climb from the wallet's entry point on April 17, according to DEX Screener data.