The Bitcoin BTC/USD year-to-date surge of almost 60% has captured the most attention, but the crypto's move pales in comparison to the massive gains of meme coins like Shiba Inu SHIB/USD, Dogecoin DOGE/USD, Dogwifhat WIF/USD and Bonk BONK/USD.
Benzinga took a look at what factors were driving this resurgence in meme coin prices and how established meme coins have a leg up on their new rivals.
Dogecoin's Transformation Towards Providing Tangible Value To Token Holders
Even though Dogecoin launched in 2013, the largest meme coin by market capitalization was pursuing many technical developments to its blockchain infrastructure to expand its use cases beyond microtransactions.
The latest Dogecoin Core 1.14.7 update introduced key security updates and enhancements to several RPC methods used in API design, reducing future vulnerabilities and allowing developers to add more functionalities to their decentralized applications (dApps).
The Dogecoin Foundation has plans to create libraries that should help standardize implementations, with an ulterior focus on facilitating more Dogecoin payment integrations with crypto platforms and online businesses.
Although its infinite token supply was still a deterrent for critics, Dogecoin was scripting a gradual transformation that could deem it a store of value among meme coins in the coming years.
Shiba Inu: Reduced Token Supply And Bullish Sentiments Around Shiba's Shibarium
As one of the top-performing meme coins on Ethereum ETH/USD, Shiba Inu’s price rise, nearly tripling off its bottom, can be attributed to more than just a change in investor sentiments.
The Shiba Inu token’s burn rate has increased exponentially in recent months, with more than 643 million tokens being burnt in February 2024 alone.
While this represented a very small portion of its 589.28-trillion current token supply, the crypto world was clearly impressed by this.
It helped with reducing Shiba Inu’s circulating supply and boosted prices in a rising demand scenario.
Moreover, the introduction of Shibarium as a fast, scalable and secure Layer-2 transaction platform embellished the Shiba Inu ecosystem, with daily transactions surpassing the 400 million milestone already.
As the project’s creators work towards redefining the end-user experience with further improvements, the Shiba Inu token may finally be ready to shed its meme coin tag and be more valued as a utility token.
Also Read: Exclusive: Is Dogecoin Going Legit? Landmark Sale Could Change The Way We Buy Homes
Dogwifhat & Bonk—The Stars Of The Solana Memecoin Universe
Solana SOL/USD-based meme coins such as Bonk and Dogwifhat were attracting hordes of investors and speculators, as well.
While these memecoins do not have any specific use cases apart from entertainment, sustained fund inflows into Solana could bode extremely well for their long-term price appreciation potential.
What’s more, these memecoins were riding the wave of investor interest fed by Solana’s deliberate focus on encouraging meme coin developers. The goal is to cultivate an engaging meme culture that could attract users with different tastes and cultures.
Although far less appealing than Shiba Inu or Dogecoin on a fundamental level, investors could look at jumping onto the Solana meme coin bandwagon with investments in either the Bonk or Dogwifhat token.
That said, it was important to note that there are hundreds of dead memecoins from amongst those that exploded onto the crypto scene in the previous bull run, making it imperative for investors to only allocate as much capital as they can afford to lose when purchasing these meme-based tokens.
This image was generated using artificial intelligence MidJourney.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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