As the crypto bull market accelerates in 2024, different high-opportunity narratives emerge in the space. Currently, the main market drivers in the industry are Bitcoin, Ethereum’s layer 2 solutions, and the Solana ecosystem.
In 2021, however, markets shook when the meme economy spurred by Dogecoin and Shiba Inu took the industry by surprise. But can we expect the same for the next bullish cycle? In this article, we’ll try to dive deeper into the memecoin archetype and provide some insight into its upside potential.
After going through our market analysis, you should be able to assess whether you should buy Dogecoin or invest in its rival SHIB instead.
Analyzing Shiba Inu and Dogecoin’s Present Performance
To begin our analysis, let’s take a look at the most recent market performance of DOGE and SHIB. More precisely, assessing the last year of market action should provide some insight into future fluctuations of the assets.
Shiba Inu struggled in 2023, or at least compared to some high-performers in the industry. In a year, the cryptocurrency has dropped by 17.90% in value, unable to pick genuine momentum. Even at the time memecoins like PEPE or BONK were making the headlines and growing exponentially, SHIB stagnated.
Many believe that SHIB might have already maxed out its potential in 2021 when its price reached $0.00008845. Currently, the meme token is down 89% from this price, with a market cap of $5,5 billion and a circulating supply of 589,290,493,483,445 SHIB.
Dogecoin had a similar progression during the last year, as its price fluctuated between $0.08 and $0.05. However, the original memecoin managed to recover nearly all of its value lost, returning to $0.08.
Considering that the price action of SHIB and DOGE is similar, let’s take a look at other factors that might make you invest in Dogecoin.
Shiba Inu and Dogecoin: Analyzing Crucial Market Drivers
Shiba Inu and Dogecoin feed two completely different narratives. The former is an ERC20 meme token on Ethereum, whereas the latter resides on its proprietary blockchain network. Consequently, one might think that SHIB doesn’t present any intrinsic value.
That said, the latest developments in both ecosystems are pushing for more utility of SHIB and DOGE, setting up the scene for the bull market.
Upcoming Events and Hype Triggers
The SHIB developer team has been working on a proprietary blockchain — Shibarium. This EVM network aims to offer more utility to the SHIB asset and allow BONE holders to pay for gas fees with their tokens. However, the chain launch encountered some significant issues, as the main Ethereum to Shibarum bridge was compromised. As a result, millions of dollars worth of ETH remains locked forever in the bridge.
Dogecoin, on the other hand, relies on first-generation and turing-incomplete blockchain technology. As a result, its main purpose is to serve as a digital, peer-to-peer payment currency similar to Bitcoin. The main difference with BTC is that Dogecoin doesn’t have a supply cap.
With that in mind, the recent DRC20 protocol on Dogecoin has spurred some renewed interest in the blockchain. These Doginal inscriptions allow the creation of fungible and non-fungible tokens on Dogecoin, creating new, flourishing markets on the chain.
Market Cap Requirements for $1
The next psychological factor surrounding meme coins like DOGE or SHIB is their ability to reach the $1 price tag.
In this regard, Dogecoin is much closer than Shiba Inu, as it would take only a 1.3x growth for DOGE to reach the prospective target. SHIB would need to increase by at least 10,000x from its current price to reach the same level.
In this regard, one might think that Shiba Inu has much more room for growth. However, this would also mean that the meme token would surpass Bitcoin’s current market cap by 10x, a fairly unrealistic forecast.
Comparing Social Media Footprints
Both Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have strong communities on social media. Although dogecoin has been in the markets for far longer than SHIB (2014 vs 2020) the strength of their communities is quite similar.
The SHIB community grew exponentially in a short period, amassing an army of fervent followers who preach the token’s benefits. In contrast, Dogecoin’s community is less viral and focuses on different narratives, such as self-custody and charity initiatives.
The Power of the Crypto Whales
Currently, hundreds of SHIB large holders own trillions of tokens worth a good portion of the market cap of the cryptocurrency. Well-known whales Gimli and BlueWhale0073 hold millions of dollars in SHIB but are nothing compared to the top holder who owns ~48 trillion tokens.
Dogecoin is much more decentralized in this regard. DOGE miners receive new coins every minute for securing the chain. Additionally, due to its longevity in the market, the holder base has increased to over 4 million people who hold at least 1 Dogecoin. Consequently, many consider DOGE to have become the on-ramp cryptocurrency for many mainstream users and their first contact with the industry.
Finally, we need to mention the plethora of celebrities that have supported Dogecoin over the years. Elon Musk, Snoop Dogg, Mark Cuban, and Guy Fiery are all vocal supporters and Dogecoin whales. Musk’s open support for DOGE caused the price to skyrocket in 2021 and reach an all-time high of $0.79 at one point.
Conclusion
Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have survived the last bear market admirably. Cryptocurrencies with stronger fundamentals are still struggling, whereas these meme coins continue to benefit from community and celebrity traction.
Although they remain a high-risk, high-reward type of crypto, many believe that they have a place in their portfolio. Starting as a joke, memes have become a pillar of the industry and will certainly remain one of the biggest opportunities in crypto.
