A $575 Wager on Shiba-Themed Token Soars to $1.17 Million in Just 5 Days

The season of memecoins continues to yield life-altering trades for those brave enough to take the leap. 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 then sold for 503 ETH on Tuesday, worth approximately $1.17 million, as per on-chain tracker Lookonchain. This round trip, which lasted five days, resulted in a return exceeding 2,000x. ASTEROID is themed around a Shiba Inu drawing by the late 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, inspired 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 she hoped to ask Musk, the final one inquiring if Asteroid could become SpaceX's official mascot. Following her passing, her mother shared the list publicly, which was then amplified by media personality Glenn Beck on April 16. The post went viral, catching Musk's attention, and he responded with an 'ok' to making Asteroid the official SpaceX mascot. This response sparked the token's surge. ASTEROID's market capitalization skyrocketed from around $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's European morning hours, it trades at $0.0004435, boasting a $186.5 million market capitalization and $24 million in 24-hour volume. Notably, 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 approximately 10x from the wallet's entry point on April 17, according to DEX Screener data.