One trader turned one ETH into over $470,000 in just a few hours. Another held the position for 580 days seeing it close to zero, then walked away with close to $392,000. Both made their money on the same token – a memecoin called Asteroid Shiba – after two comments from Elon Musk lit up the crypto markets on Friday.
Collaborative Reading
Asteroid Shiba: Desire That Caused Joy
The story behind the token is very different from the world of memecoin. Asteroid Shiba was inspired by a shiny Shiba Inu dog created by Liv Perrotto, a 15-year-old girl who died of cancer.
The toy wasn’t an art project – it actually flew into space as a zero-gravity symbol. Before passing, Liv had one request for Musk: to make the Asteroid the the official mascot of SpaceX.
ASTEROID went from a market value of $50K to a peak of $23 Million today. What is it?
Asteroid is a shiba inu created by Liv Perrotto, a 15-year-old cancer survivor who tragically died earlier this year.
He wanted to ask Elon if he would make Asteroid the mascot of SpaceX. pic.twitter.com/WiKocpDX9P
– Arkham (@arkham) April 17, 2026
Musk responded to the post with three words – “I’ll reply soon.” It was enough. In a few hours, the market cap of the brand shot from about $50,000 to $20 million.
Broadcaster Glenn Beck shared Liv’s story publicly, drawing attention to her connection to space exploration and her desire to reach out to Musk. As Musk’s response spread, investors moved quickly.
At the age of 15, Liv Perrotto’s biggest dream was coming true @elonmusk. He also wrote a list of questions to ask him. His mother @rebeccaperrotto he told me that a few days before he died of cancer, he had a chance to talk to Elon, but he was too tired and… pic.twitter.com/zTRMreMFhM
– Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) April 16, 2026
Whales And Degens Running In
According to what he shared with Arkham, a signal rise it was smooth and fast. Reports indicate that traders – including big-pocket buyers known in crypto circles as whales – piled in almost immediately after Musk’s comment appeared.
Statistics from Coingecko show that ASTEROID exploded to more than 68,000% in the last seven days.
State of the trenches:
Degens is betting 5-6 places that Elon Musk will build $ Asteroids mascot of SpaceX https://t.co/NU3LS3kucD pic.twitter.com/RXb4gOpNh8
— Wals (@walsxbt) April 17, 2026
One trader was described in reports as betting six bucks that Musk could take Asteroid as a SpaceX trademark. Reports indicate that the token has grown significantly on Ethereum, where the market’s economic slowdown helped it rise.
An early adopter who turned $21,000 into about $392,000 kept the property a year and a half after making almost zero returns. Time, in this case, made all the difference.
Collaborative Reading
What Comes Next Depends on One Person
The brand has no marketing, no roadmap, and no corporate support. All of its value is tied to Musk saying nothing else. Reports say that the meeting was entirely driven by the surrounding issue – emotion, geographic connectivity, and the open question of Musk’s next move.
If they follow through, the mark may rise again. If they stay quiet, the price can go down as fast as it went up.
As of Friday, Musk had not commented on Asteroid or SpaceX.
At the time of writing, ASTEROID’s price was down 40% in the last 24 hours, following a huge increase of 68,428% last week, data from Coingecko shows.
Image taken from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
