Trader turns 1 ETH into nearly $500K after Musk reply

An anonymous Ethereum address turned 1 ETH into nearly $500,000 after buying the ASTEROID meme token minutes after Elon Musk replied to a post about the coin, triggering a rapid price surge. ASTEROID rose more than 71,000% in a 24‑hour period.

The sequence began when media personality Glenn Beck posted about Liv Perrotto, a teenager who created a Shiba Inu mascot named Asteroid to serve as a zero‑g indicator for SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission and who died of cancer in January. Elon Musk replied to Beck’s post around 11:50 p.m. ET on Thursday with “Will answer shortly.” The reply attracted more than 1.3 million views.

Eight minutes after Musk’s reply, an Ethereum address ending in “EF99af” swapped 1 ETH for ASTEROID tokens and received more than 10 billion tokens. The value of that holding rose rapidly as trading volume increased.

Data from DEXScreener shows ASTEROID’s market capitalization climbed from under $100,000 to nearly $19 million within 24 hours. The Ethereum token recorded more than $43 million in 24‑hour trading volume, while a separate ASTEROID token on Solana logged about $37 million in volume over the same period.

DEXScreener’s top traders data lists the EF99af address as the leading trader for the token. That address realized more than $242,000 in profit through partial sales and retained roughly $180,000 worth of ASTEROID, leaving a portfolio value near $500,000. Two other Ethereum addresses identified as 6E5Eae and 9dE8db each bought under $10,000 and have recorded more than $150,000 in gains from sales.

An earlier buyer who purchased ASTEROID before Musk’s reply sold at about a twofold gain and realized roughly $1,300. ASTEROID was first launched on Ethereum 19 months ago and had limited trading activity prior to the surge.

The token uses the Shiba Inu mascot created by Perrotto as its theme. Musk’s brief reply to Beck’s post coincided with a surge in on‑chain activity and sharp price movement for the token.