Major Memecoins Pepe & Shib See Serious Holder Growth

SHIB and PEPE Holder Counts Climb Despite Tough Market

Two of crypto's most recognisable memecoins are quietly building momentum where it arguably counts most — on-chain. Despite a difficult broader environment for speculative assets, both @Shibtoken ($SHIB) and @pepecoineth ($PEPE) have recorded sizeable increases in their holder bases since mid-April 2026.

According to on-chain data, $SHIB's unique holder address count has risen by roughly 20,000 over that period, bringing the total to nearly 1.583 million. $PEPE's growth has been even more pronounced: holders surged by close to 37,000 in the same window, taking the total to approximately 551,500. The holder growth comes amid a modest but notable pickup in price action, with $SHIB posting a 24-hour gain of 4.34% to $0.00000603 in a recent session, significantly outpacing Bitcoin's 1.43% daily increase and signalling renewed interest from buyers. Broader meme token sentiment also improved, with the top meme sector market capitalisation rising more than 2% to reach $36.8 billion.

Is Memecoin Season Making a Comeback?

The jump in unique wallet holders is widely watched as a leading indicator of retail engagement. New addresses entering a token's ecosystem tend to precede — rather than follow — meaningful price moves, as fresh participants accumulate before momentum fully builds.

For $SHIB, the on-chain story extends beyond passive holding. Shibarium, the Shiba Inu Layer-2 network, has now processed more than 1 billion total transactions since its launch, a milestone confirmed by the team on April 27, 2026. The network supports faster and cheaper transactions than the main Ethereum chain, and the combination of record wallet counts and rising transaction activity suggests broader ecosystem participation rather than speculative accumulation alone.

Meanwhile, a Canary Capital spot $PEPE ETF is currently moving through SEC review after the firm filed an S-1 registration statement on April 8, 2026 — what would be the first US-based exchange-traded fund tracking the memecoin's spot price. If approved, the product could introduce a new class of buyer to the token, though approval remains uncertain and analysts widely regard the filing as an early-stage test of regulatory appetite for meme-specific products.

Still, caution is warranted. $PEPE has no fundamental floor — its value is a function of market mood, social reach, and cultural relevance. The same speculative dynamic applies to $SHIB. Whether the holder surge translates into a sustained memecoin rally remains to be seen. What is clear is that both tokens are drawing fresh participants into their ecosystems at a rate that has caught the market's attention.

As always, memecoins carry significant risk. Nothing in this article constitutes financial or investment advice.

Sources:
Blockonomi – Shibarium Records 1B Transactions Amid Wallet Growth
The Block – Canary Capital Files Spot PEPE ETF Application with SEC
AInvest – SHIB's Holder Surge: A Flow Analysis of the Meme Coin Breakout