Let’s get it straight – Meme coins like Dogecoin (DOGE) or Shiba Inu (SHIB) cannot make you a millionaire unless you get really lucky like Gluabert Contessoto↗︎.

If you scroll through the CoinMarketCap↗︎ list of top cryptocurrencies, you might disagree with me as Dogecoin is the 10th largest cryptocurrency in the world, followed by Shiba Inu.

So, why do these meme coins have no fundamental value despite having such a huge market cap? How do these meme coins differ? Should you invest in Shiba Inu or Dogecoin?

Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Shiba Inu was created in 2020 by an anonymous person or a group of individuals named Ryoshi. SHIB is the native ERC-20 token of the Shiba Inu ecosystem. This Ethereum-based meme coin project was developed to experiment with decentralized community building.

Initially, the Shiba Inu token had no utility. However, the Shiba Inu community launched↗︎ the ShibaSwap decentralized exchange (DEX) in July 2021, adding value to the SHIB token. In the ShibaSwap ecosystem, SHIB is used as an incentive for using the ShibaSwap DEX.

In addition to SHIB, the ShibaSwap ecosystem has two other ERC-20 tokens – LEASH and BONE. LEASH is a rebase token tied to Dogecoin’s price, while BONE acts as the governance token in the Shiba Inu community. You can use these tokens to provide liquidity (Dig), stake tokens (Bury), and swap crypto tokens (Fetch), and more on the ShibaSwap exchange.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

Dogecoin was launched in 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer. This meme coin was created to take a dig at the crypto volatility and the speculation.

Dogecoin is built on top of the Litecoin codebase, which in turn is created using Bitcoin code. DOGE is the name and the ticker of Dogecoin’s native cryptocurrency.

Dogecoin gained solid attention lately after big names like Elon Musk↗︎ and Mark Cuban↗︎ tweeted in support of the meme coin.

Tokenomics – Supply, Market Cap, and Distribution

Shiba Inu (SHIB) has a total supply of one quadrillion tokens- out of which only 50% of the SHIB tokens were added in circulation via the ETH/SHIB liquidity pool on Uniswap, and the remaining 50% were sent to Vitalik Buterin’s cold wallet as a marketing stunt. As of now, each Shiba Inu token is worth $0.00005762 and has a market cap of over $31 billion, according to CoinMarketCap↗︎.

As opposed to SHIB, Dogecoin has an unlimited supply and currently has a circulating supply of 132 billion. DOGE (at the time of writing) has a market cap of $34.66 billion↗︎, making it the tenth-largest cryptocurrency in the world, followed by Shiba Inu. Talking about the token distribution, Dogecoin had a fair launch, i.e., no tokens were reserved for founders or partners. Instead, Dogecoin is entirely mined by the community.

In theory, an asset with a limited supply will grow in value if the demand increases. Why? Because there would not be enough supply to match the increased demand, thereby causing the asset’s price to skyrocket.

Take Bitcoin, for example. There can only be 21 million Bitcoins. Due to this capped supply and skyrocketing demand, Bitcoin is the most valued cryptocurrency in the world.

In the case of Shiba Inu and Dogecoin, the supply is too big to match the increasing demand. Here, even if the demand skyrockets, there are enough tokens to balance it, and thus, there will be no significant increase in these meme coins’ value unless Elon Musk tweets about it.

Token Utility

In the scam-filled crypto world, the rule of thumb is to buy only crypto assets with real-world value that solve a particular problem. For instance, Ethereum has significant value as it has pioneered decentralized applications (DApps) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Shiba Inu was created to ease community governance and decentralization. There is no denying that SHIB has no major utility that justifies its huge market cap.

However, with the launch↗︎ of their native decentralized exchange (DEX) – ShibaSwap, the project has gained some credibility. In just one day of its launch, the ShibaSwap DEX had over $1 billion↗︎ in total value locked. Currently, ShibaSwap has a TVL of $628.34 million↗︎.

Dogecoin was popularly used for tipping content creators and giving donations to charities. Nonetheless, Dogecoin has no significant utility other than being a meme token. The token has value only because Elon Musk occasionally tweets↗︎ about Dogecoin and mentions it in his Saturday Night Live (SNL).

Long story short, both, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu do not have any fundamental value. These meme coins are at the mercy of the hype created by big shots like Elon Musk. However, ShibaSwap does add some real-world value to the Shiba Inu ecosystem.

Why Can Shiba Inu And Dogecoin Never Reach $1?

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu might never reach $1 as these meme coins have a massive circulation and do not have fundamental value to drive their prices.

You might wonder – Why should I not invest in DOGE when Elon Musk is a believer↗︎ in Dogecoin?

Recently, Elon Musk replied to a tweet↗︎ saying he does not hold any SHIB tokens driving a 20% crash in Shiba Inu’s price. What if Elon Musk tweets something negative about Dogecoin? DOGE will fall in the crypto charts.

Considering this, you should invest in cryptocurrencies only after examining everything – whitepaper, roadmap, utility, tokenomics, team, partnerships, among other factors. There is no denying that prominent people supporting crypto assets have a significant impact on the asset’s value, but it should not be the only reason to invest in any cryptocurrency.

Final Thoughts

Dogecoin was created to make fun of the crypto ecosystem, while Shiba Inu is dubbed the ‘DOGEKILLER.’ DOGE has an unlimited supply while SHIB has a total supply of one quadrillion. This massive supply is the major roadblock for these meme coins to reach beyond a dollar or even reach a dollar. Dogecoin’s value is driven by people like Elon Musk, while Shiba Inu is slowly building its utility as it launched the ShibaSwap DEX.

Investing in cryptocurrencies without understanding their fundamental value is no less than gambling. Invest only if your research says that a particular cryptocurrency has real-world value and, most importantly, invest what you can afford to lose.