Meme coins are always a gamble. But sometimes, data changes the odds. We decided to ask AI which of the biggest memes is a better choice. If you were looking to put $2,000 into Pepe (PEPE) or Shiba Inu (SHIB) right now, one token clearly has stronger momentum, community support, and upside potential. Spoiler: it’s the frog, not the dog.

Price Performance: PEPE Soars, SHIB Falls Sharply

Let's talk numbers. Shiba Inu entered 2024 on a high but ended up falling sharply. After reaching around $0.000033 in December 2024, the price plummeted 68% in just four months, bottoming out at nearly $0.00001082 in March 2025. Even after a slight recovery, SHIB is still down more than 40% year-over-year and about 83% below its 2021 all-time high.

Pepe, on the other hand, has exploded. It hit a new record high of $0.0000283 in December 2024, then cooled off — only to rebound by more than 86% in just one month in Q2 2025. Despite the wild swings, PEPE is still up about 17% year-over-year and has shown the kind of raw momentum traders look for.

Market Capitalization and Liquidity: SHIB's Size, PEPE's Speed

SHIB still has a larger market cap, currently hovering around $8 billion. It’s listed everywhere—Binance, Coinbase, Robinhood—and has plenty of liquidity. But that size is also a drag. It takes a lot of capital to move it around meaningfully.

PEPE is leaner, with a market cap of nearly $5.5 billion. It's newer, faster, and easier to pump. At its peak, it even pulled in over $8.5 billion in daily trading volume after its Coinbase listing, showing that traders are hungry for it.

SHIB has the numbers — 1.5 million holders, an average holding period of 230 days, and 3.9 million X followers. But that scale can be a double-edged sword. It’s hard to drum up new hype, and its recent community sentiment has been lukewarm. Whale holdings remain significant, and new user growth has slowed.

PEPE holders have just passed 100,000, but are still growing – and growing fast. On X, PEPE has more daily mentions than SHIB. In March 2025, PEPE had 14,590 daily mentions compared to SHIB’s 9,820. Whale dominance has begun to wane, and the recent surge in sub-$1 transactions suggests growing grassroots adoption.

Utilities & Ecosystems: Technology vs. Memes

SHIB is under construction. It has Shibarium, its own Layer-2 blockchain, with over 1 billion transactions processed, a metaverse in development, and support for tokens like BONE and LEASH. There is also a burn mechanism via Shibarium fees and NFT/metaverse plans.

PEPE? No roadmap, no dev team updates – just a meme. Its contract is forked and tax-free. Yet despite having no utility, it has generated more price action than most tokens with roadmaps. A few staking opportunities and liquidity mining have popped up, but it’s essentially community-driven chaos – and it works.

Psychology and Speculation: Who's Hotter Now?

Shiba Inu has its long-term believers, but the buzz has died down for now. PEPE, on the other hand, is trending. On CoinMarketCap, 87% of voters are bullish on PEPE, compared to much lower enthusiasm for SHIB. PEPE’s meme status and viral appeal give it an edge in short-term FOMO cycles. Shiba Inu has the infrastructure — but infrastructure takes time to impact price.

Assessment: PEPE Has The Advantage

If you wanted to invest $2,000 in a meme coin today, PEPE seems like the better choice. It’s on an uptrend, has a strong uptrend, and has more upside potential if the momentum continues. It’s definitely riskier – but the reward profile is also better.

SHIB isn't dead. It's just slowing down. It may shine again as its ecosystem matures or another bull wave hits. But for now, PEPE is where the energy is.

Winner: PEPE.