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

The season of memecoins continues to generate life-altering trades for those who dare to take the plunge. On April 17, an anonymous wallet acquired 2.79 billion ASTEROID tokens for $575 and, just five days later, sold the entire stake for 503 ETH, equivalent to approximately $1.17 million, as reported by the on-chain tracker Lookonchain. This brief investment yielded a staggering return of over 2,000x. ASTEROID, an Ethereum-based memecoin, is themed around a Shiba Inu drawing created by Liv Perrotto, a teenage cancer patient who passed away in January 2026 following a five-year battle with the disease. Two years prior to her passing, Perrotto had 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 aboard the Polaris Dawn mission in September 2024 as a zero-gravity indicator. Before her death, Perrotto had written down eight questions she hoped to ask Musk, with the final one inquiring whether Asteroid could become SpaceX's official mascot. After her passing, her mother shared the list publicly, and media personality Glenn Beck brought attention to 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 capitalization rising from around $50,000 to over $20 million within hours of Musk's reply, and later 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. Notably, the token lacks formal endorsement from SpaceX, has no licensing arrangement, and no confirmed involvement from Musk beyond his social media responses. It is currently traded on Uniswap against wrapped ether, with its price increasing by 20.69% over 24 hours, 28.54% over six hours, and climbing approximately 10x from the wallet's entry point on April 17, according to data from DEX Screener.