I just went back and dug through the history of this Pepe frog, and I found it runs much deeper than most people usually think. It’s not just a sad face in a picture.

In fact, Pepe the frog first appeared in 2005 in the comic series Boy’s Club by the American artist Matt Furie. Back then, it was just an ordinary character—but later on, in some releases, Pepe says “Feels good, man” while pooping/using the bathroom, and that’s exactly when the first meme was born.

What’s really interesting is that starting in 2008, when this image showed up on 4chan, the community began creating nonstop. They modified its expressions, creating Sad Pepe, Smug Pepe, Feels Bad Man—turning Pepe the frog into a symbol of every emotional state. Sad, lonely, angry, happy—everything is there.

Then around 2015–2016, the meme got pulled into politics. Some right-wing groups in the U.S. used it in campaigns, even supporting Donald Trump. This sparked major controversy— the Anti-Defamation League even included some versions in its list of hate symbols, even though Matt Furie himself opposed that kind of use.

But the most interesting part is its resurgence within the crypto community. On 4chan, “Rare Pepe” appeared—unique versions sold as collectible images. Then, in the NFT world, Pepe the frog became inspiration for a whole series of tokens and projects, including projects built on Counterparty.

Could you make your own Pepe version? For example, “Pepe Zát,” with a philosophical take on blockchain, or a rare meme for the community. On Gate, there are quite a few tokens related to meme culture like this—if you’re interested, you might want to check them out.