Shiba Inu, Dogecoin… which meme coin deserves your money more, given how similar they are and how often people confuse one for the other? These are the leading two meme coins in the market, shaping their peers’ trends and capturing the lion’s share of investor interest. They dominate conversations when it comes to meme coins and offer a benchmark for the rest of the competitors around when it comes to their performances, from price tags to community enthusiasm and continuous tech progress. Both are household names, both feature the internet-famous Shiba Inu dog as their mascots, and both draw inspo from the viral doggo meme. Their value is mainly driven by community support rather than strong, traditional fundamentals. Yet, they have a lot of potential to elevate investors’ portfolios, which is just a reason why crypto buffs worldwide are following closely the DOGE and SHIB news today.
They may seem similar at first glance, but they differ dramatically when you scratch below the surface. So, are you ready to explore the leading meme coins by market capitalization, Shiba Inu and Dogecoin, to discover which one is your portfolio’s best fit if you ever want to invest in this segment?
Dogecoin’s fundamentals
Dogecoin, the first meme coin ever, was deployed in December 2013 by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus as something of a joke, poking fun at the first and foremost crypto, Bitcoin. It took Litecoin’s open-source code, which is in turn a fork of Bitcoin, and refashioned it into a comic alternative intended to spread positivity and entertainment. Dogecoin took a different stance from the projects that followed in its footsteps: it didn’t pose as a sophisticated technological invention, but as an initiative supportive of the meme culture and defined by simplicity and approachability – a posture that resembles SHIB’s.
DOGE is inflationary when it comes to its supply, having no maximum cap and seeing around 5BN fresh tokens mined every year and released on the market for investors to buy. This design keeps transaction fees modest and supply flowing, simultaneously decreasing scarcity and making it harder to achieve astronomical price increases, even in the long term. However, sources like Coinpedia estimate the asset’s price could range between $2.52 and $3.03 by 2030, more than double its current price of around $1.13 at the time of writing.
As of 2025, DOGE remains one of the top 10 cryptos by market capitalization, followed by SHIB, which proves that community and visibility can be as powerful as sophisticated technology.
Shiba Inu’s fundamentals
Shiba Inu entered the market seven years after Dogecoin, and as soon as it arrived, it was being marketed as the “Dogecoin killer”. Shiba Inu differs from Dogecoin in that it is an ERC-20 token that runs on Ethereum, rather than being a blockchain itself, as Dogecoin is. This means that its security, infrastructure, and ability to integrate with decentralized applications (dApps) are reliant on Ethereum, and its association with the leading smart contract platform is beneficial for its outlook.
SHIB’s initial supply was of 1 quadrillion tokens; however, sizable portions got burned, including $6.7BN worth of SHIB tokens that were burned before Ethereum’s co-founder donated to charities fighting COVID-19, in 2021. SHIB’s sending of such a generous number of tokens to Buterin clearly shocked the world. At press time, the remaining circulating supply revolves at around 589TN, with community-driven burns continuing in order to reduce that figure over time, indicating a deflationary mechanism that contrasts Dogecoin’s inflationary design.
SHIB boasts a complex ecosystem with more tokens, such as LEASH and BONE, as well as the decentralized exchange ShibaSwap and the layer-2 blockchain Shibarium, created to accelerate transfers and cut transaction costs. The community is working on other developments, too, such as a governance token branded TREAT, which shows a clear commitment to progress and to expansion beyond the meme status.
Comparing tokens
Tokenomics, assessments of a crypto’s main characteristics, are central to the differences between DOGE and SHIB. Dogecoin issues new tokens indefinitely, meaning that it’s more of a currency than a store of value. Indeed, this model ensures that there’s always liquidity to support transactions and suffice investors’ demand to buy, sell, trade, or hold. However, on the other hand, this nature also means that scarcity is more difficult to achieve, making it harder for prices to move upward since there’s always just enough to meet demand.
On the other hand, SHIB’s supply is limited to around 590TN, and the burning mechanism only reduces circulation down the road. This means that SHIB has a deflationary environment, where, if demand grows, the value of one token rises accordingly, as there’s not enough supply to meet investors’ needs.
In short, DOGE is mainly seen as an amusing, accessible coin that can be used to pay or tip, while SHIB is increasingly perceived as a practical asset with growth potential and deflationary economics. Dogecoin uses its own, Litecoin-derived blockchain, employing proof-of-work mining and lacking superior features or smart contract capability. On the other hand, Shiba Inu uses Ethereum’s smart contracts, meaning it can enable NFT platforms, DeFi apps, and more, becoming a self-sufficient ecosystem.
Community support
Dogecoin has a much older and diversified community since it’s the first meme coin to hit the stage. It includes celebrities who are endorsing DOGE and boosting its visibility, as well as newcomers and seasoned investors. At the same time, Shiba Inu’s community is labeled as “SHIB Army”, and is very vocal and active, despite being younger. It plays a central role in boosting awareness and setting up token burns, to name a few attributes.
Do DOGE and SHIB differ that much, really?
While both DOGE and SHIB are meme coins at their core, they hold onto very distinct approaches. DOGE is the original, inflationary, and community-backed meme coin that thrives on visibility and simplicity. At the same time, SHIB is an ambitious newcomer, with a deflationary design and intention to become a broader crypto ecosystem in itself.
Please treat both as what they truly are: speculative and unstable digital assets influenced by social media, market sentiment, and community involvement, among other factors. Understanding the differences between them will help you decide if, and which, meme coin deserves the bigger part (or any) of your capital this year.
Peyman Khosravani is a seasoned expert in blockchain, digital transformation, and emerging technologies, with a strong focus on innovation in finance, business, and marketing. With a robust background in blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi), Peyman has successfully guided global organizations in refining digital strategies and optimizing data-driven decision-making. His work emphasizes leveraging technology for societal impact, focusing on fairness, justice, and transparency. A passionate advocate for the transformative power of digital tools, Peyman’s expertise spans across helping startups and established businesses navigate digital landscapes, drive growth, and stay ahead of industry trends. His insights into analytics and communication empower companies to effectively connect with customers and harness data to fuel their success in an ever-evolving digital world.
