One trader turned a single ETH into more than $470,000 in just a few hours. Another person held his position for 580 days and watched it sit near zero, then exited with approximately $392,000. They both got their money on the same token — a meme coin called Asteroid Shiba — after a two-word response from Elon Musk lit up cryptocurrency markets on Friday.
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Asteroid Sheba: a wish that sparked madness
The story behind the token is different from most stories in the memecoin world. Asteroid Sheba Inspired by the plush Shiba Inu dog created by Liv Peruto, a 15-year-old girl who died after battling cancer.
The game wasn’t just a craft project, it actually flew on a space mission as an indicator of zero gravity. Before she died, Liv had one request of Musk: Make the asteroid the asteroid. The official mascot of SpaceX.
ASTEROID has gone from a market cap of $50,000 to a peak of $23 million today. What is this?
Asteroid is a Shiba Inu created by Liv Peruto, a 15-year-old girl with cancer who tragically passed away earlier this year.
She wanted to ask Elon if he wanted to turn the asteroid into a SpaceX mascot. pic.twitter.com/WiKocpDX9P
– Arkham (@Arkham) April 17, 2026
Musk responded to the post with three words – “I will answer soon.” That was enough. Within hours, the token’s market value rose from about $50,000 to more than $20 million.
Radio host Glenn Beck shared Liv’s story publicly, drawing widespread attention to her connection to space exploration and her desire to reach out to Musk. Once Musk’s response spread, traders moved quickly.
At 15 years old, Liv Peruto’s biggest dream was to meet @elonmusk. She even wrote a list of questions to ask him. Her mother @rebeccaperrotto She told me that a few days before she died of cancer, she had a chance to talk to Elon, but she was very tired and… pic.twitter.com/zTRMreMFhM
– Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) April 16, 2026
Whales and Degens rush in
According to data shared by Arkham, Rise of the token It was steep and fast. Reports indicate that traders — including large wallet buyers known in cryptocurrency circles as whales — piled in almost immediately after Musk’s comment appeared.
Figures from Coingecko show that the asteroid has exploded by more than 68,000% in the past seven days.
Condition of trenches:
Degens is betting on 5- to 6-figure positions that Elon Musk will take $asteroid Mascot from SpaceX https://t.co/NU3LS3kucD pic.twitter.com/RXb4gOpNh8
– Wals (@walsxbt) April 17, 2026
One trader was described in reports as betting a six-figure sum on the possibility that Musk would officially adopt the asteroid as a SpaceX symbol. Reports indicate that the token gained additional momentum on Ethereum, as deeper liquidity in the market helped fuel the rally.
An early owner who turned $21,000 into nearly $392,000 held that position during a year and a half of near-zero returns. Timing, in this case, made the difference.
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What comes next depends on one man
The token has no product, no roadmap, and no support from the company. Its entire value depends on whether or not Musk says anything else. Reports say the rise was entirely driven by the story surrounding it — the emotion, the connection to space, and the open question of what Musk would do.
If it continues, the symbol could rise further. If you are silent, the price may fall as quickly as it rose.
As of Friday, Musk had not made any additional statement about the asteroid or SpaceX.
At the time of writing, the asteroid’s price was down 40% Over the past 24 hours, after a massive 68,428% increase last week, data from Coingecko showed.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
