A cryptocurrency trader turned a 1 ETH investment, worth approximately $2,500, into nearly half a million dollars following a massive surge in the Ethereum-based meme coin ASTEROID. The token's value skyrocketed by over 71,000% in 24 hours after gaining attention from a social media interaction involving Elon Musk.
The catalyst was a post by media personality Glenn Beck on X, which highlighted the story of Liv Perrotto, a teenager who passed away from cancer. Perrotto had created a Shiba Inu mascot named Asteroid, which served as a zero-g indicator for SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission in 2024. Beck's post asked if Asteroid could become the face of SpaceX. Elon Musk replied, "Will answer shortly," around 11:50 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 17, 2026. This reply garnered over 1.3 million views.
Just eight minutes after Musk's reply, an Ethereum wallet address ending in "EF99af" purchased 1 ETH worth of ASTEROID tokens, acquiring over 10 billion tokens. As attention surged, the token's market capitalization exploded from below $100,000 to nearly $19 million, subsequently passing $20 million. The trader's portfolio value ballooned to nearly $500,000, with the trader locking in over $242,000 in profits while still holding an ASTEROID stash worth around $180,000.
Other traders also profited handsomely. According to blockchain analytics, two other addresses purchased less than $10,000 worth of ASTEROID and locked in gains exceeding $150,000. The event also benefited a long-term holder who had bought 8.02 billion ASTEROID tokens for 9.1 ETH ($21,600) in September 2024. After 580 days of the investment being nearly worthless, its value surged, yielding a $370,000 profit.
The frenzy generated over $43 million in 24-hour trading volume for the Ethereum version of ASTEROID, making it the second most-traded meme coin across all blockchains. A separate ASTEROID token on the Solana blockchain also saw significant activity, with over $37 million in volume.
