The crypto market has regained its bullish momentum following Trump’s positive stance on the Fed rate cut. Ethereum (ETH) is again leading the charge, with a mid-July breakout, as investors eye the $5,000 milestone.

However, while ETH is reclaiming its dominance among large-cap cryptocurrencies, savvy investors are turning toward lesser-known but high-upside plays, such as Little Pepe (LILPEPE), a sub-$0.002 meme coin that’s defying the odds with real utility, breakout potential, and a growing community. With over $13.2 million raised in its presale and more than 9.3 billion tokens sold, Little Pepe is no longer a hidden gem; it’s a rising star. As Ethereum gears up for its next leg higher, LILPEPE is positioned as the next best low-cost mover, with 1000x upside potential.

Presale Momentum and Growing Ecosystem Back LILPEPE’s Rise

The presale success of Little Pepe isn’t luck. It results from precise execution, viral community traction, and a vision that resonates across meme coin enthusiasts and serious crypto investors. Now in Stage 8, with 91% of the tokens sold and the current price up 70% from Stage 1, the LILPEPE presale has outpaced many of its peers in both capital raised and speed of sale. Early buyers are already sitting on notable gains, and with the token set to list at $0.003, even late presale participants have a clear upside.

Backing this momentum is more than hype. The project has launched a $777,000 giveaway, offering 10 lucky winners $77,000 each in tokens. It has also completed a smart contract audit, been listed on CoinMarketCap, and is preparing for CEX listings post-presale, with clear credibility indicators and a well-executed roadmap.

Ethereum Eyes $5,000 as Institutional Floodgates Open

Ethereum’s price action in July has been explosive. After breaking out of a 3.7-year descending trendline and forming a bullish wedge, ETH surged from $2,090 to over $3,700, stabilizing above $3,870.

Ethereum Price Chart | Source: CoinGecko

Analysts noted that a weekly close above $4,000 opens the gates to $4,800 and even $5,000, driven by technical patterns and on-chain strength. What’s pushing this rally? Institutional demand.

Ethereum ETFs have logged a record-breaking 17-day inflow streak, with over $2.4 billion in inflows last week alone, surpassing the inflows of Bitcoin ETFs. BlackRock’s ETHA ETF pulled in $440 million in a single day.

Even Ethereum’s Layer-2 networks are booming. Arbitrum, Optimism, and zkSync drive transaction volume and scale the Ethereum network, which now handles over $10 billion in weekly on-chain activity. If the momentum continues into August, historically ETH’s strongest month, we could see Ethereum reach its $5,000 target sooner than most expect.

How Little Pepe Is Rewriting the Meme Playbook

While Ethereum leads on the institutional front, Little Pepe is rewriting how meme coins operate, starting with utility first. At the core of the LILPEPE ecosystem is its Layer 2 EVM-compatible blockchain, designed to provide meme coins and micro-cap tokens with a scalable and low-cost infrastructure. This is a first in the meme space, where most tokens lack a technical foundation.

Built on this Layer 2 is the Pepe Launchpad, a no-code token launch platform that allows anyone to create and deploy their meme tokens safely and quickly. With sniper bot resistance, 0% buy/sell tax, and a clear roadmap, Little Pepe appears as a meme-powered launch engine for the next wave of community tokens.

This makes it even more attractive because all these utilities are centered around the $LILPEPE token, an ERC-20 coin, ensuring continuous demand for use cases as the platform grows. The project also leverages meme virality, boasting a strong social presence and consistent traction across platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Telegram, and TikTok.

Best Breakout Candidate Below $0.002? Here’s Why It’s LILPEPE

With its current price below $0.002, Little Pepe offers one of the lowest barriers to entry in the entire meme coin sector and one of the highest upside potentials.

Why?

• Planned Tier-1 CEX Listings will expose LILPEPE to global retail demand.
• Sustainable long-term utility project, unlike pump-and-dump meme coins.
• Its Layer 2 blockchain and Launchpad create real infrastructure for developers and meme coin fans.
• The current presale price ($0.0017) is expected to double on listing, and that’s just the beginning.

As Ethereum races to $5,000, attention will inevitably shift to lower-cap projects with viral energy and genuine fundamentals. LILPEPE sits at the intersection of both. With a strong roadmap, presale traction, and technical features rarely seen in meme projects, it’s primed to be the best low-cost mover of 2025.

Conclusion

Ethereum’s march toward $5,000 is strengthening with every ETF inflow, whale buy, and technical confirmation. But Little Pepe stands out as the top cheap crypto to watch in 2025 for those seeking bigger percentage returns. Its under-$0.002 price point, Layer-2 tech stack, and meme-market appeal give it breakout potential unmatched by most altcoins. Join the Little Pepe Presale now, before the price climbs again!

For more information about Little Pepe (LILPEPE) visit the links below:

Website: https://littlepepe.com

Whitepaper: https://littlepepe.com/whitepaper.pdf

Telegram: https://t.me/littlepepetoken

Twitter/X: https://x.com/littlepepetoken

Elon Musk’s X has openly condemned Britain’s new Online Safety Act, warning that its sweeping enforcement threatens free speech and risks fostering an online environment of excessive censorship.

The platform’s criticism adds to growing public and political backlash against the law, which was introduced to curb harmful online content and protect minors.

The Online Safety Act, enacted last year and gradually being rolled out in 2025, compels social media giants like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and X to crack down on illegal content and implement stricter protections for children online. Sites hosting pornography are also required to verify user age, a move that has stirred significant privacy concerns.

In a statement on Friday, X said the law’s “laudable intentions were at risk of being overshadowed by the breadth of its regulatory reach.” The company, which has already implemented age verification measures in line with the law, warned that the act’s vague boundaries and tight deadlines were encouraging platforms to over-police content for fear of regulatory penalties.

“When lawmakers approved these measures, they made a conscientious decision to increase censorship in the name of ‘online safety’. It is fair to ask if UK citizens were equally aware of the trade-off being made,” the company said.

A key element of the law’s implementation involves oversight by media regulator Ofcom, which has already launched formal investigations into four unnamed companies operating 34 pornography websites to assess compliance. These probes come as users voice mounting frustration over intrusive age verification processes that require personal data uploads—measures seen by many as a disproportionate infringement on digital rights.

That sentiment is spreading fast. Over 468,000 people have signed a petition calling for the repeal of the law. Critics, including content creators and free speech groups, argue the law has already gone too far, resulting in the removal of legal content in efforts to avoid potential violations. They contend the law’s structure places disproportionate power in the hands of regulators and platforms, effectively chilling lawful expression online.

Despite the uproar, the UK government has stood its ground. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle defended the law earlier this week, saying those seeking to overturn it were “on the side of predators.” His comments were widely criticized as inflammatory and dismissive of legitimate concerns about civil liberties and overreach.

Ofcom, for its part, has vowed to enforce the law “proportionately,” but its investigations into pornography sites—alongside the possibility of steep fines for violators—signal an aggressive posture that platforms like X say risks harming the very liberties the UK purports to uphold. X stressed the need for a “balanced approach” that simultaneously safeguards children, encourages innovation, and protects individual freedom.

“Significant changes must take place to achieve these objectives in the UK,” the company said.

The UK joins a growing list of countries attempting to regulate online spaces more tightly, citing child safety and national security. But as tech companies like X push back, the debate is increasingly framed as a battle over who decides what speech is permissible—and whether security should come at the cost of free expression in the digital age.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has appointed David Bird as Chief Executive Officer of its petroleum and petrochemicals division, a move that not only marks a critical leadership shift for Africa’s largest privately-owned refinery but has also stirred conversation over the capacity of Nigerians for the top leadership roles.

Bird, a seasoned British oil executive, assumed the role in July 2025, bringing decades of high-level global industry experience. He spent nearly 20 years with Shell, overseeing some of its most complex operations, including the landmark Prelude Floating LNG facility in Australia — the first of its kind in the world. He later took on senior positions at Oman’s Duqm Refinery and Australian energy giant Santos Ltd, where he led production operations and supply chain efforts.

With degrees from Imperial College London and Stanford University, Bird has now been tasked with steering the Dangote Refinery through its critical growth phase — a time when Nigeria is banking on the refinery to finally ease its chronic fuel import dependence, stabilize local supply, and position itself as a fuel-exporting nation.

In a LinkedIn post cited by S&P Global, Bird pledged to focus on “maximizing operational output and commercial competitiveness,” while also eyeing expansion into other African markets.

But Bird’s appointment has also reopened an uncomfortable conversation about why, after over 60 years of being Africa’s top oil producer, Nigeria appears unable to produce leadership for its most strategic downstream project. There appears to be deep-rooted concerns over the dominance of foreign professionals in Nigeria’s most ambitious industrial venture and the broader implications for indigenous capacity in the oil and gas sector.

Industry chatter quickly turned to questions of competence — or the lack—with critics saying that the refinery’s leadership structure, now firmly in the hands of expatriates, signals a damning indictment of Nigeria’s oil industry training, management, and oversight capabilities. Many pointed to the decades-long failure of state-owned refineries — in Warri, Port Harcourt, and Kaduna — as proof that the country lacks the expertise to run a complex facility of Dangote’s scale.

These state-run facilities have swallowed billions of dollars in failed turnaround maintenance projects since the 1990s, with little to no output to show. None has produced refined fuel at scale in more than two decades.

Against this backdrop, Bird’s appointment is based on operational credibility and the competence required to run a $19 billion project.

Foreigners have been at the helm of Dangote’s oil ambitions from the outset. Edwin Devakumar, an Indian national, has served as Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Group since March 1, 2024, overseeing strategic direction and the buildout of refining operations. Devakumar, who has worked with the group for over two decades, is one of Aliko Dangote’s most trusted lieutenants and played a central role in the engineering, design, and planning of the refinery.

The refinery itself — located in the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos — is the largest single-train refinery in the world, with a processing capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. Its complex houses 435 MW of power generation capacity, a fertilizer plant, petrochemical units, and an integrated export terminal. It began producing diesel and aviation fuel in 2024, with petrol production commencing in September of the same year.

With its aim to dominate the Nigerian oil market and significantly curtail petrol imports, the Dangote Group announced that it will deploy 4,000 compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered trucks to move fuel across Nigeria starting August 15.

Meanwhile, Aliko Dangote continues to pursue international deals, including a partnership with U.S.-based Premier Product Marketing LLC to export petrochemicals and a joint venture with Emirati firm G42 to construct a major data center in Abu Dhabi, further highlighting the group’s increasing global footprint and internationalization strategy.

While the optics of having a non-Nigerian leadership team steering the country’s flagship refinery project have not sat well with many, the bigger question is whether Nigeria is ready for the recalibration that will produce competent indigenous hands in its oil sector.