Initially, meme coins started as a joke, bringing a light and fun touch to mainstream tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Slowly, they began attracting a large following, creating fun communities on popular social apps like Reddit and X (formerly Twitter).
Top celebrities and influential figures joined the conversation, and at one point, Elon Musk was almost a Dogecoin ambassador with his frequent tweets. But even as meme coins tap into popular entertainment culture, they are steadily gaining mainstream acceptance. Dogecoin, for instance, ranks among the great 10 cryptocurrencies in market capitalization.
Shiba Inu, the second most popular meme coin, ranks a few positions below. Both share similarities, such as having the same mascot, being affordable to purchase for less than a dollar, and offering the potential for significant profits during a bullish run.
If you’ve ever considered investing in a meme coin, these two popular tokens can be your starting point.
Dogecoin
Dogecoin was created in 2013 by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer. Their idea was to introduce a fun cryptocurrency with a different appeal from mainstream tokens like Bitcoin. The crypto is based on the famous “Doge” internet meme featuring a Shiba Inu.
The joke cryptocurrency quickly became popular and had a thriving community of fun and relaxed users rallying behind the coin. Famous people like Elon Musk hyped the crypto online, increasing its value. Dogecoin, whose token is DOGE, ranks among the top 10 cryptocurrencies and has a market capitalization of over $35 billion.
Even though it is primarily used as a tipping token on X and Reddit for creating and sharing good content, DOGE has been used for charitable causes and has several other uses. Some ecommerce platforms let you purchase products using dogecoins. Elon Musk’s Tesla company accepts DOGE for some purchases.
Gaming sites have also adopted cryptocurrencies, with Dogecoin being one of them. You can deposit and play casino games using DOGE. While some casino sites operate exclusively with cryptocurrencies, others include Dogecoin among their accepted payment methods
Dogecoin recorded its lowest price of $0.0000869 in May 2015 and its highest price of $0.7316 in May 2021. That’s a percentage increase of over 800,000% if you bought it at its lowest and sold it at its highest, showing that meme coins, too, can earn you good money.
Shiba Inu
Shiba Inu is another popular meme coin, similar to Dogecoin, based on the Shiba Inu mascot. The creators of the coin remain anonymous but use the pseudonym Ryoshi. Like Dogecoin, it started as a joke currency and captured mainstream attention. Developers jumped on the project and built a decentralized blockchain around the token, including an L2 Shibarium.
During the initial coin offering (ICO), 50% of the total supply was allocated to Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s founder. Later, in 2021, Vitalik donated 10% of the tokens to the COVID-Crypto Relief Fund in India, which was about $1 billion, making it one of the most significant donations ever. The remaining 40% was burnt forever.
With the token SHIB, Shiba Inu has a market capitalization of over $9 billion. Its decentralized exchange, called Shibaswap, uses the tokens LEASH and BONE. LEASH is used to offer incentives on the Shibaswap and is in scarce supply. BONE, on the other hand, is the governance token used by holders to vote on proposals. 
The Shiba Inu token holds the record for the highest short-term increase in cryptocurrency value, moving from an initial price of fractions of a cent—practically zero—to $0.00008616 in just eight months. A jump of more than 150,000 times.
Other Meme Coins
Besides Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, there are other meme coins to consider. However, you must be cautious and conduct thorough research to avoid potential scams. Other popular meme tokens include Pepe, Floki Inu, Baby DogeCoin, Bonk, and CateCoin.
