Crypto Exchange Coinbase Gets Under Fire for Labeling PEPE a "Hate Symbol"

Coinbase has landed in hot water with the memecoin Pepe (PEPE) community for labeling the memecoin a "hate symbol," sparking a wave of backlash.

On May 10th, Coinbase account holders started sharing screenshots of the Coinbase email newsletter, which quoted the Anti-Defamation League's 2016 decision to add a frog-themed meme among online hate symbols.

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The move by one of the largest crypto exchanges has caused quite a stir in the PEPE memecoin community.

The frog-themed memecoin's fans and holders demanded an apology from Coinbase. Some even called for a mass account deletion in response to the email.

One dissatisfied Twitter user and solidity developer, Kenobi, claimed that PEPE is not a symbol of hate and announced his intention to move his funds to the US-based crypto exchange Gemini. He ended his tweet with a hashtag: #deletecoinbase.

This hashtag took Twitter by storm, securing a spot on the trending list with more than 14,000 tweets in just 2 hours, according to Tweetbinder data. At the time of writing, the hashtag is still trending, with almost 42,000 tweets.

When asked for additional comments, a Coinbase spokesperson claimed that they had "nothing further to add."

It is worth noting that following Coinbase's controversial description making waves on Twitter, PEPE's price dropped by 2.6%. At the time of writing, PEPE's trading price sits at $0.00000178, marking an 8.07% decline over the past 24 hours.

The heated reaction to Coinbase's email underscores the importance of understanding and respecting the values and symbols of various communities in the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency.