Since the two meme coins are so similar and attract the same kind of investors, the debate about Dogecoin vs Shiba Inu continues. Although many people in crypto have a low opinion of meme coins, Dogecoin's blockchain isn't completely useless. After all, DOGE follows the Litecoin model, so its infrastructure is solid. Further, because it utilizes the scrypt proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism, it's more scalable than some significant cryptos.
On the other hand, Shiba Inu uses SHIB, an ERC-20 token. That means Shiba Inu has the power of Ethereum behind it. The question in the Dogecoin vs Shiba Inu debate is which meme coin is better? This article will examine the similarities and differences between the two regarding price history, technological advantages, and other factors.
Dogecoin's Price History
Dogecoin launched in 2013 with its now famous Shiba Inu dog as its mascot and DOGE as its token. DOGE grew over 300% right out the gate in its first few weeks of trading. At that point, for many traders, Dogecoin's consumer-focused approach seemed preferable to Bitcoin's. However, the hot start proved short-lived, with DOGE flatlining for the next few years at minimal value.
In 2017, the price of DOGE surged from $0.0002 to approximately $0.0090 before the year's end. Again, this spike was short-lived. But it put traders on notice that they could make big money on Dogecoin with the right timing.
By 2019, DOGE dropped back to approximately $0.0025, with the occasional creep to $0.0030. DOGE's next pump came with the crypto market's upswing early in 2021. By February that year, the prices hit $0.082. Shortly afterward, in April, the Dogecoin community rallied the price to record highs before hitting an all-time high of $0.731. This spike marked a 9000% price increase for DOGE in January 2021. A 9000% price swing is nothing to sneeze at. Ultimately, DOGE would become one of 2021's most popular cryptos, hitting a $32 billion market cap. With that kind of money involved, it's not surprising that other projects would step into the meme coin space.
Shiba Inu's Price History
Shiba Inu is the most popular contender to follow in Dogecoin's footsteps. And that's why we include it in this Dogecoin vs. Shiba Inu rivalry. Fans of the SHIB token like to call it the "DOGE killer."
SHIB is similar to DOGE in that its use case is a token for exchange and nothing more. Also, it's trying to copy Dogecoin's formula for success by knitting together a strong community. After launching in August 2020, SHIB's price stayed at the worm food level, for the most part, never climbing above a few fractions of a penny. However, in 2021, SHIB's price began to mimic DOGE's price runs. In April that year, SHIB's price leaped from $0.0000001 to $0.0000036. Such microscopic fractions don't look like much at first glance. But to SHIB holders, it meant about a 3500% price gain in a few days.
Since then, the "DOGE killer" nickname came into prominence, and in October 2021, the hype cycle began in earnest. Everything clicked eventually to jack SHIB's prices to an all-time high of $0.0000826. This number reflected a massive increase from its initial launch a year earlier.
Dogecoin vs Shiba Inu - Similarities
Shiba Inu followed closely on the heels of Dogecoin's success through the process of mimicry. For one thing, both meme coins have warm and fuzzy doggy mascots and share a mission to make loads of money for their communities. Like Dogecoin and other cryptos, Shiba Inu serves as a peer-to-peer network, with no central authority calling the shots on the project's direction.
Furthermore, Shiba Inu started with the community-led philosophy from the start to build on Dogecoin's success. Moreover, because of their similar tokenomics, technology, utility, and the fact they have nothing particularly innovative to offer, neither Shiba Inu nor Dogecoin will ever dominate the crypto market. There will always be better projects to surpass them. Nonetheless, in a strict one-on-one comparison, there are some differences between Dogecoin vs Shiba Inu. Let's take a closer look at some of them.
Social Media Influencers
Aside from their slightly different memes, one difference in the Dogecoin vs Shiba Inu comparison is how influencers can impact their token prices. DOGE holds one significant advantage - Tesla CEO Elon Musk. In the age where powerful influencers can drive hype cycles, all it takes is a positive tweet from Elon to get millions of investment dollars moving into a crypto asset such as Dogecoin.
Musk described Dogecoin as "the people's crypto", and his first tweets sent DOGE's price up by about 47% within minutes. Afterward, Musk toned down his tweets and even warned people to exercise caution when dealing with crypto. Even though he didn't mention DOGE directly, his tweets appeared after public speculation that Elon's power as an influencer held too much sway over Dogecoin's price.
Shiba Inu didn't have an Elon Musk, so they tried to corral Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin into a cheerleading role. Unfortunately, their plan didn't fare so well. When the team sent Vitalik a large sum of SHIB tokens for publicity, he promptly burned them and publicly distanced himself from any involvement with the project.
Transactions and Speed
Dogecoin models itself on Litecoin and does well regarding transaction speeds with its proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. Bitcoin also utilizes PoW; however, Dogecoin relies on the scrypt algorithm, not the SHA256 Bitcoin uses. Scrypt enables a faster block creation rate, which means Dogecoin should be more scalable than Bitcoin. Dogecoin's estimated block creation time is approximately one minute. Pretty impressive compared to Litecoin's 2.5 minutes and Bitcoin's ten minutes.
Shiba Inu, on the other hand, is on the Ethereum network. So, its transaction rate and block creation times will reflect what's happening on Ethereum. Further, since SHIB is an ERC-20 token, it can interact with innovative sectors such as DeFi on Ethereum. So even though SHIB has been riding on DOGE's coattails in this Dogecoin vs Shiba Inu rivalry, for the most part, it doesn't necessarily mean that SHIB can't eventually surpass DOGE one day. When Ethereum finishes transitioning to proof-of-stake (PoS), it could give Shiba Inu an advantage over Dogecoin.
Solana is another blockchain like Ethereum. You can learn more about it by reading our recent blog articles about the top five Solana projects and how Rust and Solana work.
Investing in DOGE
For investors thinking about Dogecoin, its coin's history is riddled with wild price swings, much of it driven by the enthusiastic DOGE community. Traders who time these swings accurately stand to make incredible gains. But volatility can also whipsaw the greedy who overextend themselves.
Investing in SHIB
SHIB is in a similar boat, and its price swings can confound analysts' expectations as it often moves out of orbit with the cryptocurrency market as a whole. Such erratic behavior makes predicting SHIB's price quite difficult. Regardless, due to the bear market, it doesn't appear that SHIB's price will be hitting new highs anytime soon. Even so, analysts such as DigitalCoinPrice and TradingBeasts are still optimistic about Shiba Inu's future.
Until this bear market ends, you'll need to know how to invest during a crypto bear market. Furthermore, you'll be better aware of the factors that cause them next time by understanding crypto crashes.
Investing in Meme Coins
It's no secret that Dogecoin and Shiba excel via their communities and enthusiastic hype cycles. While each has workable infrastructures, neither has anything innovative to offer the blockchain ecosystem. However, traders can still make a lot of money off these kinds of community-led meme coin projects. While critics contend that meme tokens hold little intrinsic value, it isn't necessarily important when strong community sentiment drives price action. Besides, one could argue that many cryptocurrencies lack intrinsic value.
Bitcoin launched in 2009 and still dominates the crypto market without doing much of anything technically innovative since it started. So, technological innovation doesn't always equate with success.
Opinions from analysts vary when it comes to meme coins. Some think that because nothing is interesting about their technology, investors will lose money in the long run. But one mustn't forget that meme coins drive many new people to crypto. So, it's unwise to dismiss them outright. Furthermore, meme coins will always be tempting because their volatility offers a chance for traders to make huge returns in a short time.
Picking a Winner
Picking a winner between Dogecoin vs Shiba Inu can be a tricky proposition. At first glance, Dogecoin looks to be the more robust investment since it carries the cache of being the first meme coin. Shiba Inu would seemingly be in second place since it's the knock-off. However, Shiba Inu has some technical advantages, and its team plans to expand into areas including NFTs. Dogecoin can't currently match these efforts.
So, when looking at Shiba Inu, even though it appears to be nothing more than a Dogecoin knock-off, there are other factors to consider. But, at the end of the day, both meme coins are high-risk investments. The only things making DOGE less risky than SHIB are its superior name recognition and longer track record. But Shiba Inu demonstrates more growth opportunities in the future. Remember, meme coin or not, do your own research before investing in any asset.
Meme Coin Analysis
An excellent place to start an analysis of Dogecoin vs Shiba Inu is to look at the previous price performance for each. It's not a "cure-all", but it can help assess how market forces impacted Dogecoin and Shiba Inu in the past. Another thing to keep an eye on is how their communities behave in the various forums and social media platforms.
Since both are community-driven with intense hype cycles, they're subject to some wild price fluctuations. Further, investors looking to hold SHIB have to remember there isn't much of a precedent for how wildly its price can fluctuate since it's so new.
Is Shiba Inu the DOGE Killer?
So is Shiba Inu just a cheap Dogecoin knock-off with a "be first to be second" strategy, or does the project have some merit and long-term viability?
Although SHIB seems to be cashing in on DOGE's success in this Dogecoin vs Shiba Inu rivalry, it could one day become the DOGE killer. As mentioned, SHIB is an ERC-20 token. Thus, it has far more applications for future development. Furthermore, the team is working on ShibaSwap for users to trade SHIB for other cryptos. It's also entering the NFT market with an artist incubator program. Learn how to convert an NFT to an in-game item at Moralis. Also, for more information regarding NFT development, check out the complete list of NFT coding tutorials.
Dogecoin vs Shiba Inu - Conclusion
There are a variety of mixed opinions regarding meme coins - many of them negative. But one thing they've demonstrated is the power of community. After Reddit users joined forces to send GameStop's stock value to "the moon", Dogecoin's community acted in kind. Together they launched DOGE into the top ten cryptos by market cap.
Another thing critics forget is the fun factor. Who doesn't like to have fun? Besides the NFT sector, there's not a lot of light-hearted fun to be found in crypto. After all, not everyone finds things like techy DeFi protocols to be fun. So warm and fuzzy doggy memes and overall lightheartedness have struck a chord with crypto enthusiasts.
To sum up, Dogecoin has the advantage of a stronger community and a famous link to Elon Musk. But, the wannabe DOGE killer has better technological prospects and is gaining traction with its community. Both coins have advantages, so only time will tell who will win this Dogecoin vs Shiba Inu rivalry. Again, remember that the things stated herein are not financial advice; do your own research when investing in any type of asset, meme coin or not.
Regardless of which project wins this meme coin war, you can be a winner by enrolling at Moralis Academy and taking the best blockchain courses available. Get your blockchain career started now!
