<p class="p1">Coinbase’s chief legal officer apologized on Thursday for mentioning in a <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/bytes/archive/behind-the-memecoin-frenzy"><span class="s3">newsletter</span></a> that some groups consider the Pepe the Frog meme a hate symbol for far right groups.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p class="p1">“We screwed up and we are sorry,” Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal <a href="https://twitter.com/iampaulgrewal/status/1656688561742131201"><span class="s3">said in a tweet</span></a>. “Yesterday we shared an overview of the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24pepe&amp;src=cashtag_click"><span class="s4">$pepe</span></a> meme coin to provide a fact-based picture of a trending topic. This did not provide the whole picture of the history of the meme and we apologize to the community.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p class="p1">The drama was sparked by the Pepe memecoin’s newfound popularity. The crypto token, styled after the Pepe the Frog cartoon meme, <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/230386/coinbase-pepe-frog-hate-symbol-deletecoinbase"><span class="s3">climbed past</span></a> $1 billion in market cap for the first time this month.</p> <p class="p1">Coinbase published a newsletter noting the history of the meme. The Anti-Defamation League lists Pepe the Frog as a “general hate symbol” <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/pepe-frog"><span class="s3">on its website</span></a>.</p> <p class="p4">Not long after, the <span class="s2">hashtag #DELETECOINBASE began trending on Twitter. The mention of Pepe as a hate symbol appeared to have been deleted from the Coinbase newsletter. </span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="s2">Coinbase did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><br /><span class="copyright"><p>© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.</p> </span>