What is Pepe Unchained? A beginner guide to the PEPU Layer 2

Pepe Unchained is a blockchain of its own, built as a Layer 2 on top of Ethereum. Its coin is PEPU. If you have used Ethereum before, most of it will feel familiar: the same wallets work, the same kind of addresses work, and tokens follow the same ERC-20 standard. What changes is speed and cost. Transactions confirm quickly and usually cost a tiny fraction of what the same action costs on Ethereum mainnet.

This guide explains what a Layer 2 is, what PEPU is used for, and what you need before you make your first transaction.

What a Layer 2 is, in one minute

Ethereum mainnet (often called Layer 1) is secure and widely used, but block space is limited, so fees rise when many people want to use it at the same time. A Layer 2 is a separate chain that runs alongside Ethereum and handles transactions on its own, then relies on Ethereum as its base. For the person using it, the result is a network that behaves like Ethereum but is faster and cheaper.

Every network has a chain ID so wallets can tell them apart. The chain ID of Pepe Unchained is 97741. When a site asks your wallet to switch to Pepe Unchained, that is the number your wallet should show.

What PEPU is used for

PEPU is the native coin of the chain. On Pepe Unchained it plays the role ETH plays on Ethereum: it pays the network fee (gas) for every transaction. That means you need a small amount of PEPU in your wallet before you can do anything on the chain, even if you only want to move another token.

Because fees are low, a small balance lasts a long time. Keep a little PEPU aside instead of swapping all of it, so you can always pay for the next transaction, including the one that moves your funds back out.

Tokens on Pepe Unchained

Many community tokens live on Pepe Unchained. Anyone can create a token, so a token with a famous name is not necessarily the real one or a safe one. The only reliable identifier of a token is its contract address. Before buying, compare the address with the one the project publishes on its own official channels, and run a basic check such as the one described in our guide on checking a token before you buy.

What you need to get started

• A self-custody wallet such as MetaMask, Rabby, Trust Wallet or Coinbase Wallet. Write the recovery phrase on paper and never type it into a website.
• Some PEPU on Pepe Unchained to pay network fees.
• A way to bring funds onto the chain: a bridge from Ethereum, or a service that buys Pepe Unchained tokens for you with ETH or USDC from Ethereum, such as PenkMarket.
• The habit of reading every wallet request before you confirm it.

Where PEPU BANK fits

PEPU BANK is a terminal for Pepe Unchained. It shows token prices, charts, new launches and wallet balances, and it puts the common actions in one place: swapping, bridging, buying with ETH, burning, locking and staking. Penk Shield, built into the site, checks each request before it reaches your wallet and explains it in plain words.

You do not need PEPU BANK to use Pepe Unchained, and you should never feel rushed by any site. Start small, confirm that a first transaction works the way you expect, and only then move larger amounts.