Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) and Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB): Both of these dog-themed cryptocurrencies were created as a parody of other coins. Dogecoin was introduced as a parody of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) in 2013, while Shiba Inu was launched as a parody of Dogecoin in 2020.

Both of these coins were initially considered short-term speculative plays. But if you invested just $100 in Dogecoin at its earliest price of $0.0002, your investment would be worth about $75,000 today. If you invested that $100 in Shiba Inu at its earliest trading price of $0.000000000051 per coin, your investment would have ballooned to $27.86 million today.

The Main Difference Between Dogecoin and Shiba Inu

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu are both inspired by the famous 'doge' meme, featuring a Shiba Inu dog. However, these two coins are built on completely different blockchains.

Dogecoin was created from open-source code for Litecoin (CRYPTO: LTC), which was forked from Bitcoin's blockchain in 2011. Therefore, it is also a proof-of-work (PoW) token that needs to be mined just like Bitcoin. But unlike Bitcoin, which has a supply limit of 21 million tokens, Dogecoin is an inflationary token with no maximum supply. Its unique hashing algorithm, Scrypt, also consumes less energy than Bitcoin's blockchain and facilitates faster and cheaper transactions, making it an attractive alternative to Bitcoin for smaller cryptocurrency payments.

Dogecoin has garnered significant support from celebrities such as Elon Musk, Mark Cuban, and Snoop Dogg in the past. Musk caused Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) to start accepting Dogecoin as a payment option for some of its products last year, and he even named the controversial Government Efficiency Bureau (DOGE) of the Trump Administration after this meme coin. The public attention has driven its price higher.

Shiba Inu is built on the Ethereum blockchain (CRYPTO: ETH), transitioning from an energy-intensive PoW mechanism to a more energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism in 2022. The entire supply of nearly one trillion tokens of this coin was pre-mined on the Ethereum blockchain before its launch, and now, it can only be 'staked' - locked up to earn rewards similar to interest on its blockchain - instead of being actively mined like Dogecoin or Bitcoin.

Shiba Inu is designed to be a deflationary token. Its holders periodically 'burn' or remove from circulation its tokens to tighten supply and increase the value of the remaining tokens. Over 40% of its tokens have been burned since its public launch.

Because it is built on Ethereum, it also supports smart contracts used in the development of decentralized applications (dApps), new tokens, and other cryptocurrencies. Those applications may make it a more useful token than Dogecoin.

In 2023, the company launched Shibarium, a Layer-2 blockchain network that supports faster transactions and lower fees to attract more developers. Last August, the company launched ShibaDEX, a cross-chain decentralized exchange (DEX) that goes beyond the original ShibaSwap DEX and acts as an official cryptocurrency wallet for its tokens.

Which Meme Coin Has More Short-Term Catalysts?

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu could both benefit from the Trump Administration's friendlier stance on cryptocurrency. The appointment of Paul Atkins, a strong supporter of the cryptocurrency market, as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) clearly indicates that regulatory hurdles for the cryptocurrency market in general will fade away in the coming years.

In the near future, Dogecoin may benefit from integration into Musk's platform X for digital payments, increasing adoption among retailers, and upgrades in security, speed, efficiency, and scalability. Persistent rumors about a Dogecoin ETF or Musk's unpredictable posts about Dogecoin on X could push its price even higher.

For Shiba Inu, its short-term catalysts include the continued expansion of Shibarium, ongoing token burns, metaverse platform expansion (selling virtual land and assets), and the long-awaited ShibaSwap 2.0 upgrade for its original DEX. There are also persistent rumors about a Shiba Inu ETF, but that likely won't happen until Dogecoin and other larger altcoins have their own ETFs. Without a major celebrity supporter like Elon Musk on board, Shiba Inu may struggle to attract as much attention as Dogecoin this year.

Which Meme Coin Is More Worth Buying Right Now?

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu are still too speculative for my taste. But if I had to choose one to hold over the next 12 months, I would buy Dogecoin because it has clearer catalysts. Shiba Inu may continue to expand, but it faces too much competition from similar Ethereum-based tokens. It also does not generate enough hype in a market where winners heavily rely on social media virality.