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

The memecoin market continues to generate life-altering trades for individuals willing to take risks. An anonymous investor acquired 2.79 billion ASTEROID tokens, valued at $575, on April 17 and sold the entire stake for 503 ETH on Tuesday, worth approximately $1.17 million, according to data from on-chain tracker Lookonchain. This transaction, which took five days to complete, resulted in a return of over 2,000x. ASTEROID is an Ethereum-based memecoin 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 named 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, including whether Asteroid could become SpaceX's official mascot. After 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 ignited the token, with ASTEROID's market cap surging from approximately $50,000 to over $20 million within hours of Musk's reply, and eventually exceeding $100 million in the following 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 $186.5 million market cap and $24 million in 24-hour volume. The token has no formal endorsement from SpaceX, no licensing arrangement, and no confirmed involvement from Musk beyond his social media replies. 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 investor's entry point on April 17, according to DEX Screener data.