Pepe

Is Pepe (PEPE) Halal? A CoinStudy HCS Analysis

Let's start with complete honesty about what Pepe is.

It's a token named after an internet meme. A cartoon frog that became one of the most recognizable images in online culture. There's no whitepaper outlining a technological vision. No founding team building infrastructure. No problem being solved. No service being provided.

PEPE exists because meme culture and crypto speculation collided — and for a brief period in 2023, that collision produced extraordinary price returns for early holders. Those returns attracted attention. That attention attracted more buyers. And the cycle continued until it didn't.

For Muslim investors, the question is whether this kind of asset has any place in a Sharia-conscious investment strategy. We ran PEPE through the full CoinStudy Halal Crypto Standard (HCS) methodology. The result is the lowest score in our analysis series.

Quick Verdict: Pepe Is Doubtful ⚠️

Pepe passes the CoinStudy HCS Sharia red-line screening with no violations. But it scores only 54 out of 100 and is classified as Doubtful — meaning the project presents unresolved and serious Sharia compliance concerns that require cautious evaluation.

A score of 54 places PEPE at the bottom of our Doubtful range — just 5 points above the Haram threshold. This is the joint-lowest score in our analysis series alongside MemeCore.

What Is Pepe?

Pepe is a meme cryptocurrency inspired by internet culture and online communities. The project focuses on community engagement, meme-based branding, social media growth, digital token trading, and viral market participation.

That's the complete description. There is nothing else.

Unlike every other project in our analysis series — which have some technological purpose, some real-world application, some infrastructure function — PEPE was created as a meme-driven digital asset. Its value proposition is entirely dependent on community enthusiasm and social media attention rather than any underlying technology or utility.

This isn't a harsh judgment. It's an accurate description of what PEPE is. And that description is central to understanding why the compliance scores look the way they do.

How Does Pepe Work?

PEPE operates as a tradable cryptocurrency token on Ethereum blockchain infrastructure. Users buy, sell, hold, and transfer it through cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets.

The token's popularity is driven almost entirely by community enthusiasm, viral content, social media trends, influencer attention, and meme popularity. Price movements respond to online discussions, celebrity mentions, and market sentiment rather than development milestones, adoption metrics, or fundamental utility growth.

There is no meaningful technological innovation involved. No applications built on PEPE. No services provided by PEPE. No infrastructure powered by PEPE. The token exists primarily as an object of speculation.

Islamic Finance Analysis

Riba — The One Clear Pass

PEPE does not involve lending systems, borrowing markets, interest generation, fixed-income structures, or debt-based financial products. The token has no financial engineering of any kind.

At the protocol level, PEPE passes the Riba screening with a strong 24 out of 25 on Financial Exposure Risk. This is the only dimension where PEPE scores well — and it's the reason the classification is Doubtful rather than Haram.

Passing the Riba check is meaningful. But as the CoinStudy methodology makes clear — avoiding direct haram elements is the beginning of the assessment, not the end of it.

Gharar — Extreme and Fundamental

This is one of the largest concerns and where PEPE receives a score of only 7 out of 15.

PEPE experiences extreme volatility, unpredictable price movements, uncertain long-term value, sentiment-driven market behavior, and rapid market swings. The token's valuation depends almost entirely on factors that are genuinely impossible to predict or measure — social media trends, viral moments, community enthusiasm, and the continuation of speculative interest.

This isn't normal investment uncertainty. When an asset's value has no relationship to any measurable fundamental — no revenue, no technology adoption, no utility metrics — the uncertainty becomes fundamental rather than incidental. You are not uncertain about when a technology will be adopted. You are uncertain about whether people will continue to find a meme interesting.

That kind of foundational uncertainty is precisely what Islamic finance means by excessive Gharar.

Maysir — The Most Direct Concern

PEPE scores only 5 out of 15 on Maysir — the lowest Maysir score in our entire analysis series.

A major portion of PEPE trading is driven by short-term speculation, fear of missing out, rapid price chasing, social media excitement, and momentum trading. Most participants purchase PEPE primarily hoping to sell it later at a higher price — not to use it for any genuine economic purpose.

Think about the honest motivation most PEPE investors have. They're not buying it because PEPE provides a service they value. They're not investing in its technology. They're buying it because they hope enough other people will also buy it — driving the price up — allowing them to sell at a profit before the enthusiasm fades.

That cycle — buying an asset with no intrinsic utility hoping others will buy after you — is structurally very close to gambling-like financial behavior. The profit comes not from creating economic value but from correctly predicting and timing the speculative enthusiasm of other participants.

CoinStudy HCS Screening Results

Layer 1 — Sharia Red Line Screening

Pepe clears every hard red line.

Riba Exposure — ✅ Passed. Not a lending protocol, no interest mechanism.

Gambling and Betting — ✅ Passed. No gambling mechanism built into the token.

Haram Industry — ✅ Passed. Not connected to prohibited industries.

Guaranteed Interest — ✅ Passed. No guaranteed interest obligations.

Synthetic Interest Products — ✅ Passed. No synthetic interest instruments.

No red line violations were found. Pepe is eligible for HCS scoring.

Layer 2 — HCS Score Breakdown

Pepe is scored across 7 Shariah principles with a total of 100 points.

On Financial Exposure Risk, weighted at 25%, Pepe scores 24 out of 25. The only strong score in the assessment. No interest-based financial products anywhere in the token's design.

On Gharar and Uncertainty, weighted at 15%, Pepe scores 7 out of 15. Extreme volatility, sentiment-driven valuation, and the absence of any measurable fundamental create fundamental uncertainty that goes far beyond normal investment risk.

On Maysir and Speculation, weighted at 15%, Pepe scores 5 out of 15. The lowest Maysir score in our analysis series. Speculative momentum trading driven entirely by social media sentiment rather than genuine utility dominates market activity.

On Underlying Business Activity, weighted at 15%, Pepe scores 4 out of 15. Critically low. A meme token with no technology, no service, no infrastructure, and no meaningful economic activity cannot score well when the question being asked is whether the core business activity is permissible and productive. There is effectively no underlying business activity.

On Utility and Real Use, weighted at 10%, Pepe scores 2 out of 10. The lowest utility score in our analysis series. PEPE provides virtually no real-world utility whatsoever beyond trading and community participation. There are no applications. No services. No use cases that create genuine economic value.

On Tokenomics Fairness, weighted at 10%, Pepe scores 6 out of 10. The anonymous creation and initial distribution structure raises fairness questions, though the token's large circulating supply limits some concentration concerns.

On Transparency and Governance, weighted at 10%, Pepe scores 6 out of 10. Anonymous founding, no formal governance structure, and no identifiable development team accountable for the project's direction reduce this score significantly.

Overall HCS Score: 54 out of 100 — Doubtful

A Score of 54 — What It Really Means

The Doubtful classification under the CoinStudy HCS framework covers the range of 40 to 59. PEPE scores 54 — close to the middle of this range but only 5 points above the Haram threshold.

In Islamic jurisprudence, the concept of mashbooh — doubtful matters — carries clear guidance. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, advised leaving that which causes doubt for that which does not. This guidance becomes especially relevant when the doubtful matter scores 54 out of 100 on a comprehensive Islamic finance assessment — meaning it fails on nearly every dimension beyond the basic red-line checks.

A score of 54 with extremely low utility, fundamental Gharar, near-Haram levels of speculative Maysir, and almost no underlying business activity is not a close call requiring nuanced analysis. It's a project that barely avoids outright prohibition while failing comprehensively on the standards that distinguish genuine investment from speculation.

Pepe vs Shiba Inu vs Dogecoin — The Meme Coin Comparison

Muslim investors have now seen three major meme coins assessed in our series:

Dogecoin — Halal With Concerns (score varies, but classified above Doubtful threshold). Has over ten years of operational history, genuine payment utility, and real merchant adoption alongside its meme identity.

Shiba Inu — Doubtful at 59 out of 100. Has attempted ecosystem development through Shibarium and ShibaSwap, providing some utility foundation despite its meme-driven market behavior.

Pepe — Doubtful at 54 out of 100. Scores lower than both because it has no equivalent utility foundation whatsoever. No blockchain. No payment use cases. No ecosystem development attempting to build real value. Just a meme token.

The progression is clear — the less genuine utility a meme token has, the lower it scores. PEPE sits at the bottom of the meme coin compliance hierarchy because it has the least utility of any meme token we've analyzed.

The Question Muslim Investors Must Ask Themselves

Before investing in PEPE, ask yourself with complete and honest self-examination:

Can I explain what economic value PEPE creates — beyond the hope that its price will rise? Am I investing in something with genuine long-term value — or am I trying to time a speculative cycle? Do I understand that the majority of participants in meme coin cycles lose money? Would I be comfortable explaining my investment reasoning to a qualified Islamic scholar? Is the Islamic guidance on doubtful matters — to leave them for that which is clear — relevant to my situation?

The honest answers to these questions should matter more than the price chart, the community enthusiasm, or the memory of what early PEPE holders earned in 2023.

Final Verdict

Pepe (PEPE) is classified as Doubtful under the CoinStudy Halal Crypto Standard with a score of 54 out of 100.

It passes the Sharia red-line screening — there is no direct involvement in interest, gambling, or prohibited industries. But this is where the compliance strengths end.

Extreme speculation, near-zero genuine utility, fundamental Gharar about what creates the token's value, almost no underlying business activity, and anonymous governance all contribute to one of the lowest scores in our entire analysis series. These are not peripheral concerns — they describe the central reality of what PEPE is.

For Muslim investors — the Islamic guidance on doubtful matters applies here with particular force. When an asset scores 54 out of 100 with utility of 2 out of 10 and underlying business activity of 4 out of 15, there is no compelling Islamic finance reason to engage with it. The doubt is extensive and well-founded.

Disclaimer: This analysis is provided for educational and research purposes only. This analysis is based on guidance from CoinStudy's HCS Shariah Board members. CoinStudy does not issue personal fatwas or financial advice. Please consult a qualified Islamic scholar for individual guidance.