Everyone’s no doubt heard of Dogecoin: the dog coin that started as a parody of Bitcoin and ended up becoming a legitimate payment system. But what exactly is a dog coin? And what is a memecoin more broadly?
A memecoin is a type of altcoin created around internet jokes or memes. These coins are created just for fun and have an emphasis on community-building, charity-giving, and of course, memes. Animal-themed crypto coins are popular simply because animal memes are so widely beloved by internet culture.
After all, who doesn’t remember seeing the doge meme, the basis for Dogecoin, everywhere back in 2013? And who doesn’t like watching cute cat videos? Below, we’ll get into the top 11 dog-themed memecoins, ranked by market cap.
Top 11 dog-themed memecoins by market cap
1. Dogecoin
Dogecoin is the original dog-themed memecoin. It was created in 2013 by two software engineers as a parody of Bitcoin.
Since then it has evolved from a joke to become a widely used payment system and cryptocurrency investment project. Dogecoin has its very own blockchain, which is something that distinguishes it from other memecoins out there.
It has received attention from celebrities like Elon Musk, Mark Cuban, and Snoop Dog, which has resulted in its price skyrocketing over the past few years. Currently, Dogecoin has the highest market cap of any memecoin, at $27 billion.
The price for one coin is $0.21, down from a high of nearly $0.70 in mid-2021. It is the 10th largest crypto overall in terms of market cap.
Dogecoin’s market potential looks good, especially as it becomes more widely adopted as a payment system. For example, in 2021, the Dallas Mavericks started accepting Dogecoin as payment for tickets and merchandise. Dogecoin is projected to continue growing and could break above a dollar by 2025 according to some predictions.
2. Shiba Inu
Shiba Inu is Dogecoin’s biggest rival, and the second-largest memecoin by market cap. It was created in late 2020 as a parody of Dogecoin by an anonymous creator known only as Ryoshi.
It is an ERC-20 coin, which means it runs on the Ethereum network. SHIBA received a lot of media attention in 2021 when Ethereum’s founder Vitalik Buterin donated $1 billion worth of SHIBA to a Covid-19 relief fund in India.
The price of Shiba Inu grew thousands of times throughout 2021 until it reached its current price of $0.000042 and a market cap of $23 billion. It is the 13th highest crypto overall by market cap.
It has seen celebrity support from Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys and NFL star Antonio Brown. In terms of market potential, SHIBA is projected to continue its growth over the next five years, though it likely won’t come close to Dogecoin.
3. Dogelon Mars
With a market cap of $828 million, Dogelon Mars is the third-largest dog coin. It was created in April 2021 by an anonymous creator, and also runs on the Ethereum network.
Since its initial creation, it has built up a large community of fans and outperformed many of the other dog coins that have been in the market longer. This growth has driven up the price of the coin, which grew 22,500% throughout 2021.
Dogelon Mars’ growth makes it one of the top cryptos of 2021, and some are predicting it will sustain this growth over the next few years, potentially reaching $0.10 by 2026. Currently, the price of one ELON coin is $0.0000015.
4. Samoyedcoin
Samoyedcoin is a dog coin created on the Solana network. It began in April 2021 and was developed by an anonymous creator.
The coin has built up a large community of supporters who consider it to be Solana’s official mascot and ambassador. The SAMO coin is focused on helping beginners navigate the crypto world, particularly those looking to be part of the Solana ecosystem.
It also creates NFTs and has its own DEX, SamoDex. Currently, the price of one SAMO is $0.06505, and it has a market cap of $179 million. Samoyecoin is a community-driven project that has already seen a lot of growth since it launched. Some price predictions project the SAMO coin to reach as much as $0.35 in 2022.
5. Hoge Finance
The HOGE coin was created on the Ethereum network in February 2021 by an anonymous group. These original creators ended up abandoning the coin after only a few days.
However, the coin’s investors and fans of the project bought the Hoge smart contract from the developers. They then turned Hoge Finance into a truly decentralized and community-owned product. These investors became known as the Hoge Association.
Since then, Hoge Finance has expanded to offer NFTs, merchandise, and even a unique platform called Hoge University, which offers courses on blockchain and cryptocurrency.
Currently, the price of one HOGE coin is $0.0003699, and it has a market cap of $159 million. Hoge Finance is a long way off from reaching the levels of Shiba Inu and Dogecoin, but the fact that it’s rumored to get picked up on a major exchange means there’s a lot of potential for growth for this dog coin.
6. MonaCoin
With a market cap of $112 million, MonaCoin is the largest cat-themed coin and the sixth-largest memecoin overall, so it deserves a spot on this list!
MonaCoin is an older memecoin, developed in Japan back in 2014 by an anonymous creator known only as Mr. Wantanabe. It is considered Japan’s first crypto and is mainly used in Japan as an alternative to Bitcoin and Litecoin.
It has its own blockchain and serves as a currency for decentralized, peer-to-peer transactions. MonaCoin was born from a hard fork with its parent coin, Litecoin. Just as the goal of Litecoin was to be faster than Bitcoin, the goal of MonaCoin was to be faster than Litecoin.
Currently, the price of one MonaCoin is $1.72. MonaCoin’s future seems relatively stable considering that it can successfully create blocks in only a minute and a half, much faster than Bitcoin’s time of ten minutes. In addition, the memecoin has received approval to be used in everyday transactions by Japan’s regulatory authorities.
7. Doge Dash
Doge Dash is unique from the other dog coins mentioned above because it’s actually a game that just launched in December 2021. It is available on the Apple and Google Play stores.
Just a couple weeks before the release of the full game, the coin’s market cap was $85 million and the price of one DOGEDASH was $0.001572.
It was founded by Paul Caslin and developed by Narsun Studios, a tech company that seeks to integrate blockchain technology with games and other software.
Players can earn 10,000 DOGEDASH coins on each of the 10 levels. After they finish the game, the coins will be airdropped into the player’s wallet. 100 coins are required to play each level. Doge Dash also offers NFTs and a merch store.
8. SafeMoon Inu
SafeMoon Inu is a dog coin that was created on the Ethereum network in mid-2021. It gives 2% of every transaction to everyone who owns the SMI coin, in order to incentivize people to hold it.
Currently, SafeMoon Inu is also planning to launch a gaming platform where players can get other rewards for their coins, including NFTs.
SafeMoon Inu strives to combat the volatility of most memecoins by rewarding those who hold their coins over a long-term period.
For this reason, they charge a 10% fee on every sale of their coins. Currently, one SMI coin is worth $0.00002348 and its market cap is $23 million.
9. DOGGY
Crypto Doggies is an NFT marketplace that sells animated NFTs of different dogs. Each NFT is generated cryptographically, and each characteristic of the dogs, such as breed, pose, and accessories, has a certain percentage chance of occurring.
This means that some NFTs will be a lot rarer and harder to collect than others. Crypto Doggies NFTs can only be purchased with 100,000 DOGGY coins, which can be found on Bakeryswap.org. All the DOGGY coins spent will be burned.
Crypto Doggies also offers staking opportunities for those who hold NFTs. At the moment, the price of one DOGGY dog coin is $0.005642 and the market cap is $22 million.
10. Dogs of Elon
Dogs of Elon is another NFT marketplace that offers 10,000 unique NFTs of different dogs as well as Elon Musk.
The DOE token runs on the Ethereum network and can be used to purchase the NFTs. These NFTs can then be staked to earn even more DOE. Dogs of Elon was launched in November 2021, and currently has a price of $0.08096 and a market cap of $15 million.
Since the project started only recently, the developers have plans to keep growing the community, including donations to dog shelters and animal charities.
11. Dogey-Inu
Last but not least is Dogey-Inu. This dog coin was created on the Ethereum network in mid-2021 as a peer-to-peer payment memecoin. Its goal is to build a global DeFi community connected through memes and a desire for financial freedom.
The DINU coin is unique from some other coins because the developers locked away DINU’s liquidity tokens for 79 years in order to ensure the coin’s stability and growth.
The Dogey-Inu project is entirely community-driven, and the team’s goals are to build up a large community of supporters and create their own decentralized applications in the future.
Currently, the price of one DINU is $0.00000001538 and it has a market cap of $6 million.
What is the future of the dog coin?
Given the large amount of dog coin projects created in 2021 alone, it’s clear that dog-themed memecoins aren’t going anywhere anytime soon! These memecoins are an important part of the crypto investment culture because they represent a fun, light-hearted way of “investing.”
But more importantly, these projects bring people together and build vibrant communities over shared jokes and interests. These people are passionate about their projects and work together to not just make a successful coin, but a successful brand.
Some dog coins also play an important role by giving back to the community by donating to charity, which shows the real-world impact these coins can have.
Of course, with the rise of cat coins, who knows what the future will hold for their dog coin counterparts. Can cats rise up and unseat dog coins from their throne? While that could happen one day, it doesn’t seem like it will be anytime soon.
How to stay safe and still have fun with dog coins
While dog coins sound like a lot of fun, it’s worth noting that a memecoin is a riskier investment compared to other types of crypto, since pretty much anyone can make their own. So how can you be sure you’re not entering a scam? The best way is to evaluate the coin’s community. What are people saying about the coin on social media? Are the developers active in the community?
Also, have the developers chosen to audit their project or verify it some other way? Is there a legitimate-looking whitepaper? Does the project have a roadmap?
Most importantly, what is the distribution of the coin like? How big is the market cap? Do the developers hold most of it, or do the investors? Do the developers have a way of controlling the inflation and deflation rates of the coin (such as regular burnings)?
Try to answer all of these questions before diving in and spending your money on a dog coin. And just as with any investment, it’s typically best to only invest what you can afford to lose.
About the Author
Michael Hearne
About Decentral Publishing
Decentral Publishing is dedicated to producing content through our blog, eBooks, and docu-series to help our readers deepen their knowledge of cryptocurrency and related topics. Do you have a fresh perspective or any other topics worth discussing? Keep the conversation going with us online at: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.