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

The memecoin market continues to yield life-changing opportunities for adventurous investors. An anonymous wallet acquired 2.79 billion ASTEROID tokens, an Ethereum-based memecoin dubbed 'First Shiba In Space,' for $575 on April 17. The entire position was sold for 503 ETH on Tuesday, equivalent to approximately $1.17 million, as reported by on-chain tracker Lookonchain. This transaction, which took just five days to complete, resulted in a return of over 2,000x. ASTEROID is themed around 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 for SpaceX's Polaris Dawn ground support team. The design, inspired by Elon Musk's Shiba Inu, Floki, was taken 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 whether Asteroid could become SpaceX's official mascot. Following her passing, 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, with its market cap rising from approximately $50,000 to over $20 million within hours of Musk's reply. The market cap then exceeded $100 million in the subsequent days, with over $100 million in 24-hour trading volume. At its peak, the token briefly entered the top 200 cryptocurrencies by market cap. As of Wednesday morning, it trades at $0.0004435, with a market cap of $186.5 million and $24 million in 24-hour volume. The token lacks formal SpaceX endorsement, licensing arrangement, or confirmed Musk involvement beyond social media responses. It is traded on Uniswap against wrapped ether, with a market cap 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 climbed about 10x from the wallet's entry point on April 17, according to DEX Screener data.