Pepeto touts DeFi exchange tools update as macro shock hits crypto prices
Project says it has raised $8.175M in a presale while market focus shifts to GENIUS Act and XRP commodity claims
Pepeto announced a DeFi exchange tools update on March 18, alongside claims its presale has raised over $8.175 million and is drawing “whale wallets.” The update was promoted as arriving during a broader market pullback that saw bitcoin trade down near $71,000 amid rising oil prices and hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data.
Pepeto’s update landed into a tape dominated by macro and policy headlines, with risk assets reacting to a mix of geopolitical escalation and U.S. inflation surprises. That backdrop matters because it has been driving short-term liquidity conditions across majors and alts, and it has also shaped the marketing pitch around “corrections” as entry points.
In Wednesday trading, bitcoin spent much of the prior 24 hours around $74,000 before dropping back toward $71,000 after reports of stepped-up attacks against Iran’s energy resources and an unexpectedly hot February Producer Price Index print. WTI crude moved from about $92 per barrel overnight to nearly $96, while February headline PPI rose 0.7% versus 0.3% expected and core PPI rose 0.5% versus 0.3% expected. The data point was from before the reported attacks, complicating the outlook for rate cuts as oil remained elevated.
Pepeto’s release framed the same session’s drawdown as a familiar cycle dynamic in which large holders accumulate during fear-driven selloffs. The project said its presale was accelerating “during a market correction,” citing more than $8.175 million raised and “stages closing faster than any round before,” alongside assertions of whale participation.
On product, Pepeto described cross-chain execution and listing controls as the core of the update. “Pepeto's exchange introduces a composable settlement layer that routes zero fee execution across Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana while autonomous AI screening verifies every listed contract before a single trade executes,” said a Pepeto team representative.
The same release tied its positioning to U.S. policy debate around stablecoins and market structure, pointing to the GENIUS Act as a catalyst for regulated stablecoin yield. Separate regulatory context around the bill has included pushback on how far protections extend. Travis Hill, chair of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, said in prepared remarks that the GENIUS Act would not give the agency authority to guarantee stablecoin deposits once implemented, and that issuers would be prohibited from representing payment stablecoins as FDIC insured.
Pepeto’s materials also leaned on XRP-related claims, including an assertion that the SEC and CFTC classified XRP as a “digital commodity” on March 17, alongside references to a spot XRP ETF launch by Franklin Templeton and long-dated price targets. Those points were presented as part of a broader argument that large caps may offer lower near-term multiples than earlier-stage tokens.
What remains unresolved is what, specifically, the Pepeto “tools update” changes in production terms beyond the described routing and screening features, and whether any independent onchain or operational metrics support the presale and “whale” claims. The project also referenced an approaching Binance listing “according to the team,” but provided no date or confirmation pathway for that milestone.
