While the regulatory environment continues to get better and better in the crypto sector, many cryptocurrencies are way down for the year. Of course, that's on the back of a big rally at the end of 2024 built on President Donald Trump's election win in November and his promise to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the world.

Still, as of June 2, the prices of the meme tokens Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) and Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) have declined 39% and 38% this year, respectively. Some of this could be due to concerns over a higher-for-longer interest rate environment, the ongoing trade war, or U.S. fiscal concerns. But some may also take advantage of this sell-off to buy the dip. Which is the better meme cryptocurrency right now? Dogecoin or Shiba Inu?

Dogecoin: The original meme coin

Dogecoin really pioneered the meme token movement. Billy Markus, a software engineer, and Jackson Palmer, a marketing professional, created Dogecoin in 2013 as a practical joke. They wanted people to have more fun with crypto, so they made a cryptocurrency based on an image of Shiba Inu canine. It didn't take long for Dogecoin to go viral, with celebrities like Mark Cuban and Elon Musk, the "The Dogefather," lending their support to the token.

Dogecoin's price peaked on the same day that Musk appeared on Saturday Night Live. The price of the token hit a high of $0.76 on April 9, 2023. However, it would turn into a sell-the-news event, as Dogecoin hasn't traded that high since.

Cryptocurrencies are difficult to forecast as it is, because they don't generate cash flow or earnings. So a lot of investors look at what makes a specific cryptocurrency unique. What is its use case? And how could it revolutionize something in a way that increases the use of its corresponding tokens?

This is where Dogecoin struggles to an extent, because there doesn't seem to be a great use case for it. Given its virality, Dogecoin has been used on many occasions as a way for people to tip content creators, but other than that, there's nothing that really sets it apart. Unlike Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, there is no limit on the number of Doge tokens that can be created, so there's no real appeal from a supply and demand perspective.

However, through everything, Dogecoin has remained one of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies in the world. Very few tokens can boast the amount of support it has from an online community, so it seems more likely at this point that Doge is here to stay.

Shiba Inu: A play on Dogecoin with differences

If Dogecoin was a joke, then Shiba Ibu started as a joke on a joke. Seeing how Dogecoin took off, more people wanted to get in on the meme token fad. But Shiba Inu arrived seven years later in 2020 and is more or less a joke on Dogecoin as it was named after Dogecoin's mascot. While the token was created for similar reasons as Dogecoin, there are some distinct differences.

While Dogecoin runs on its own network, Shiba Inu was built as an ERC-20 token, meaning it was built on Ethereum's blockchain. ERC-20 tokens are powered by smart contracts and all follow a similar protocol. All ERC-20 tokens must have a total supply and follow a common set of rules regarding how transfers and associated accounts work. Shiba Inu's total supply of 1 quadrillion tokens has now been reduced to about 589 trillion after one of Ethereum's co-founders burned most of the 50% of supply that had been sent to him in a digital wallet. So while supply is still massive, there is a finite amount.

In 2023, Shiba Inu created Shibarium, a layer-2 blockchain built on top of Ethereum's blockchain to allow people to transact in a smoother, more affordable manner. Part of the reason for Shibarium was to help alleviate some of the congestion issues on Ethereum's network. Shibarium has also enabled decentralized applications and non-fungible tokens in Shiba Inu's ecosystem.

Better buy: Dogecoin or Shiba Inu?

To be clear, I wouldn't recommend buying either of these tokens. Neither offers a compelling use case or a strong technological advantage over other networks that can process thousands of transactions per second. Both are also likely to remain extremely volatile and unpredictable. But if I did have to pick one, it would likely be Shiba Inu because Shibarium offers more use cases for the network and better technology. There is also a finite supply of Shiba Inu and tokens regularly getting burned to reduce supply, even if the total supply is still quite large.