Shiba Inu

Will Shiba Inu tail Dogecoin’s price rally?

Shiba Inu’s price risks dropping 20% in April as it forms a classic bearish continuation pattern, based on technical analysis.

The price of Shiba Inu (SHIB) increased over 10% in a day amid broader upside moves across meme cryptocurrencies in the past 24 hours. But will SHIB’s price rally further?

SHIB’s price tails Dogecoin’s gains

On April 4, SHIB’s price reached $0.00001159 a day after rebounding from its local low of $0.00001049 — a 10.5% increase. Still, the memecoin underperformed compared to most of its rivals, including Dogecoin (DOGE), which jumped over 30% in the same period.

On a year-to-date timeframe, SHIB and DOGE’s gains are nearly identical around 38%. 

SHIB/USD versus DOGE/USDT and FLOKI/USDT year-to-date performance. Source: TradingView

SHIB’s price started rallying after Twitter, owned by self-proclaimed Dogecoin supporter Elon Musk, replaced its iconic blue bird logo with Dogecoin’s Shiba Inu symbol. SHIB/USD has rallied similarly in the past due to Musk’s Dogecoin mentions on Twitter.

Interestingly, in October 2021, Musk clarified that he does not hold Shiba Inu.

Extended Shiba Inu price rally unlikely

From a technical standpoint, SHIB has been consolidating higher inside what appears to be a bear flag pattern, which may limit its ability to mirror a Dogecoin-like 30% price rally.

Related: Shiba Inu community divided over allegations of code, chain ID plagiarism

A bear flag is a bearish continuation pattern that forms when the price trends higher briefly inside an ascending parallel channel after undergoing sharp declines. It resolves after the price breaks below the lower trendline with strong volumes and falls by as much as the previous downtrend’s height (flagpole).

As of April 4, SHIB has been testing the flag’s upper trendline (near $0.00001160) for a potential pullback toward the lower trendline (near $0.00001050).

SHIB/USDT daily price chart. Source: TradingView

A further close below the lower trendline may trigger the bear flag breakdown scenario, with its downside target near $0.00000883 in April, down over 20% from current price levels.

Conversely, a breakout above the flag’s upper trendline risks invalidating the bearish setup. In doing so, SHIB’s upside target appears to be at its long-term descending trendline resistance — at around $0.00001400 in April, up 25% from current prices.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Shiba Inu community divided over allegations of code, chain ID plagiarism

“I just want to know why, we, a billion dollar project that paid $10m dollars to develop our layer 2, have another projects Chain ID,” wrote one user.

A series of events erupted in the official Shiba Inu Discord on March 17 when a top-ranked community member, Steve, alleged that the Shibarium layer-2 beta testnet and the Rinia testnet, an existing blockchain, had identical chain IDs.

“So why is it that it looks like shibarium test net has taken rinia testnet genesis file Changed the name from renia But forgot to change the chain ID Rinia has been live and owned that chain Id since Feb. And was planned in December.”

Steve also alleged that “there’s no way for it to be taken over without shytoshi and kaal [Shiba Inu developers] specifically having coms with him and asking him to reboot (tricking him) so they could take his genesis file and steal his work.” To which Kaal responded:

“Dispelling some FUD ever since we did the Alpha network deployment few chain IDs were picked randomly- 417(Alpha), 517(Staging), 917(pre-pod/beta) and these chain were not registered anywhere at that time, I made a mistake to not recheck when the puppynet network was launched.”

Kaal then stated that “without getting into any fist fights,” a new version of the Shibraium beta network with a new chain ID would be deployed. However, the incident intensified later in the day when Steve raised another concern, this time comparing two screenshots to show the alleged similarity between the Shibarium alpha testnet and Polygon’s Mumbai testnet: 

“Shibarium GitHub shows the shibarium alpha test is just a 100% copy of Mumbai polygon.”

At the time of publication, Shiba Inu (SHIB) is down 4.65% over the past 24 hours to trade at $0.00001047. Cointelegraph has not independently verified the allegations nor responses brought by the Shiba community.

Steve’s original post alleging plagiarism for Shibarium. Developers have denied the allegation. Source: Shiba Inu Discord

Shiba Inu price rebounds 100% after record lows against Dogecoin — more upside ahead?

SHIB price technicals hint at another possible 40% rally for Shiba Inu versus Dogecoin as Shibarium comes into focus.

The Shiba Inu (SHIB) price was at the lowest versus its top rival, Dogecoin (DOGE), in November 2022. Three months later, the dynamics have flipped. 

SHIB price rises 100% versus DOGE

On Feb. 4, 2023, the SHIB/DOGE pair reached 0.00001638 DOGE, up almost 100% three months after bottoming out at 0.00000993 DOGE, its lowest level on record.

SHIB/DOGE daily price chart. Source: TradingView

The sharp recovery came as investors’ focus shifted to the impending launch of Shibarium, a Shiba Inu-backed layer-2 blockchain built on the Ethereum mainnet, announced on Jan. 16.

As Cointelegraph reported, the SHIB price rebound gained momentum amid reports that Shibarium will go live on Feb. 14.

In comparison, Dogecoin’s fundamentals looked pale, with Elon Musk suspending a DOGE tipping bot for violating Twitter’s rules.

Nonetheless, both memecoins have had a great start to 2023. SHIB/USD is up almost 85%, while DOGE/USD is up 36% year-to-date. 

What’s next for SHIB/DOGE?

According to several technical indicators, the SHIB/DOGE recovery trend is set to continue in the coming weeks. 

Based on historical cycles, the pair could climb to 0.00002181 by March 2023, which would be a 40% gain from current price levels, as shown in the chart below.

SHIB/DOGE daily price chart. Source: TradingView

DOGE, SHIB price downside in February?

But while SHIB appears to be in a better position to outperform DOGE, both memecoins face headwinds against the dollar in February. 

For instance, Dogecoin risks a small correction versus the dollar in the coming days as it paints a potential rising wedge pattern.

Rising wedges are bearish reversal patterns showing the price rising inside two converging, ascending trendlines. They resolve after the price breaks below the lower trendline and falls by as much as the wedge’s maximum height.

Applying the scenario on the daily DOGE price chart brings its downside target to $0.0850, down 10% from current price levels

DOGE/USD daily price chart featuring rising wedge setup. Source: TradingView

Meanwhile, SHIB/USD also looks overstretched on its daily chart, based on its relative strength index of 81 — higher than 70 is considered “overbought.“

In addition, it’s now facing a strong resistance zone at around $0.00001517, where a pullback is likely. If this is the case, February could see the SHIB price drop to $0.00001300–$0.000013000 — its most voluminous area in recent months, down 13%–20% from current price levels.

SHIB/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Conversely, a break above the $ 0.00001517 resistance would position SHIB for a run to $0.00001651, the upside target of its prevailing bull pennant setup. 

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Do Dogecoin’s (DOGE) and Shiba Inu’s (SHIB) stalled rallies mean the memecoin trend is dead?

Absent shill and bullish newsflow, DOGE and SHIB have struggled to keep up with the wider crypto market rally that occurred in January.

The memecoin phenomenon didn’t prove as effective in the last month’s crypto market rally, as the gains of the top cryptocurrencies in this category barely outperformed Bitcoin. The monthly gain of Bitcoin (BTC) stood at 44.5%, while the top two meme-based coins, Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), gained 27% and 40.7%, respectively.

Top meme-coins by total market capitalizations. Source: CoinMarketCap

Doge needs a market moving catalyst

Dogecoin is losing its popularity, as its most prominent supporter Elon Musk is reportedly developing an independent Twitter Coin instead of integrating his favorite cryptocurrency with the social media platform.

For the greater part of 2022, DOGE/USD performed poorly except for when Elon Musk acquired Twitter. The acquisition raised hopes in the Dogecoin community about increased cryptocurrency usage.

However, without any tangible announcements or reports from Twitter hinting at Dogecoin usage, the 100% price surge from October reversed in the following two months. The Google search volume for the token has also subsided since Q1 2022.

The NVT ratio for Dogecoin. Source: Coinmetrics
Google trends score for “Dogecoin” and “Shiba Inu” Source: Google Trends

Another factor influencing the price of DOGE last year was the launch of Dogechain. An EVM-compatible blockchain that uses DOGE as the gas-paying token. However, Dogechain failed to gain user traction, becoming a place mainly for “shitcoin” trading. Currently, less than 1% of DOGE is bridged on Dogechain.

Lastly, the on-chain data for Dogecoin suggests that the price may be overpriced. The Network Value to Transaction Value (NVT) ratio metric is a price-to-earning ratio equivalent for the cryptocurrency markets. The metric measures the ratio of the market capitalization of the token against its transaction volume. Higher transaction volume compared to the market value corresponds to low NVT readings.

Coinmetrics’ historic NVT chart of Dogecoin suggests that the token could be overpriced. For the last eight years, the NFT ratio has oscillated between 10 and 100, with a few outliers during bull markets. Dogecoin’s NVT metric hasn’t tapped the bottom of its long-term range since mid-2021, which exposes it to more downside risk.

The NVT ratio for Dogecoin. Source: Coinmetrics

The internet’s first and most favorite meme coin would require a catalyst like a tweet from Elon Musk, or drastic change in the token’s tokenomics or fundamentals to revive a positive run in the short-term.

DOGE/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Dogecoin has been trading in a range between $0.05 and $0.14 since last June. A breakout from the range could see continued momentum in the direction of the breakout. 

Related: Rumor has it that Dogecoin could shift to proof-of-stake

Shiba Inu’s brand building strategy may not be enough

Like Dogecoin, the weakening memecoin narrative affected the buying strength of Shiba Inu. The second-largest memecoin has been working on enhancing the brand value of Shiba Inu by forming partnerships with clothing brands like Bugatti Group and English designer John Richmond.

The Google Trend score of Shiba Inu shows a similar depressing pattern since early 2022 as Dogecoin, with no spikes in search volume since the crypto bull mania of 2021 subsided in Q1 2022.

Like Dogecoin, the Shiba community also has an independent blockchain, Shibarium, which is owned by the Shiba community. However, the blockchain’s gas-paying token is BONE instead of SHIB, which brings no real value to the token holders of SHIB.

The total balance of SHIB on crypto exchanges jumped earlier in January, which is a negative sign, exposing the token to more sell-offs. On the contrary, the smart money wallets identified by Nansen increased their holdings slightly on Jan. 25, which may add some strength to the recent rally.

Token balance on exchanges. Source: Nansen 

On a weekly time-frame, the token is trading between $0.00000825 and $0.00001794. A breakout from this range will likely see a strong move in the direction of the breakout. The midpoint of the range at $0.00001200 is also acting as a resistance level for buyers. 

SHIB/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

While the top meme tokens have seen fading momentum, Floki Inu and Solana’s BONK token had impressive runs in January thanks to an SOL price rise and tokenomics improvement with Floki Inu. The Floki community voted to burn $100 million worth of FLOKI tokens, which nearly doubled its price on Jan. 29. 

Generally, it appears that the memecoin phenomenon from 2021 has lost its steam considerably. While the memecoins are moving with the rest of the market, their performance has been average. Improvements in the projects by the team or community have become essential to push these tokens back up.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

SHIB price preps for 75% boom as Shiba Inu teases L2 blockchain launch

Shiba Inu traders are in FOMO mode with the Shibarium launch, but it might not be the best time to buy SHIB.

Shiba Inu is hoping to become more than just a Dogecoin (DOGE)-inspired memecoin as it comes closer to launching its layer-2 network called, Shibarium. Meanwhile, the Shiba Inu (SHIB) token has emerged as one of the best performers so far in 2023.

SHIB price jumps 60% in 2023

SHIB’s price has rallied nearly 60% year-to-date (YTD) to $0.00001294, its highest since early November 2022.

SHIB/USDT daily price chart. Source: TradingView

The gains started appearing mainly due to favorable macro conditions that prompted similar rallies elsewhere in the crypto market. Nonetheless, the SHIB price rally picked up momentum as investors assessed its announcement of the upcoming beta release of Shibarium.

Shibarium is reportedly a layer-2 network that would run atop the Ethereum blockchain mainnet. In other words, it would enable developers to build and launch decentralized applications while aiming for lower transactional costs and improved network scalability.

The SHIB price is up 25% since Jan. 16, when the Shiba Inu team teased its audience with the Shibarium launch announcement.

Shiba Inu price: Another 75% boom ahead?

Shiba Inu’s rally has made it an excessively bought asset on a daily timeframe, according to its relative strength index (RSI) reading at almost 86 on Jan. 18 — sixteen points above the overbought threshold of 70.

Related: What is ShibaSwap and how does it work?

Ideally, an overbought RSI prompts investors to unload their positions, leading to a price correction. In other words, SHIB risks dropping toward its 200-day exponential moving average, represented by the blue line in the chart below, near $0.00001120.

SHIB/USDT daily price chart. Source: TradingView

However, on a long-term basis, SHIB’s price rally is likely to continue if the bullish reversal pattern on the weekly chart is to be believed.

Dubbed the “falling wedge,” the pattern develops when the price trends lower inside a range defined by two descending, converging trendlines.

It resolves after the price breaks above the upper trendline toward the level at a length equal to the wedge’s maximum height.

SHIB has entered the breakout stage of its falling wedge pattern, as shown below. It now sees an extended upside toward $0.00002063 by March 2023, up 35% from current price levels.

SHIB/USDT weekly price chart featuring falling wedge. Source: TradingView

Alternatively, a potentially bearish scenario would see SHIB falling short of the wedge breakout target if the price reverses from its interim resistance level at the 50-day exponential moving average (the red line) near $0.00001309.

Such a downturn would risk sending SHIB’s price toward the wedge’s upper trendline near $0.00000800, or down 40% from current price levels.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Shiba Inu devs to launch Shibarium L2 network beta

While the developers did not give an exact date for the release, the team reiterated that their answer to all questions relating to the time frame is “soon.”

The developers of the dog-themed token Shiba Inu (SHIB) posted an update to inform its community about its upcoming beta release of Shibarium — a layer-2 network that will run on top of the Ethereum mainnet.

In the announcement, SHIB developers shared information about layer-2 blockchains. They highlighted that Shibarium is being developed to provide a tool to allow the community to build and grow the project and fulfill its founder’s vision. While some believe creating Shibarium is a way to increase the memecoins price, the developers noted that this wasn’t the goal. They wrote:

“Patience is key, and some see Shibarium as a price-pumping tool, but that is not the project’s focus and never has been.”

Instead, the developers mentioned that the goal of the new update in its infrastructure is to “revolutionize the Shiba ecosystem” by removing barriers to entry for small transactions, upgrading the speed, allowing the development of decentralized applications and integrating nonfungible tokens.

A key update in the new announcement is one of the most-requested features for the project, which is a burning mechanism for SHIB. According to the developers, “all transactions on the network will have an implicit burn amount for SHIB token.“ This mechanism will occur whenever a transaction is made within the network. 

While the developers did not give an exact date for the release, the team reiterated that their answer to all questions relating to the time frame is “soon.”

Related: Shiba Inu founder deletes social media posts, steps down from community

Members of the Shiba Inu community expressed their excitement over the new development. Some believe there are many things to look forward to in the ecosystem’s future, while others are just glad to read a new update on the project.

On Nov. 22, 2022, SHIB developer Shytoshi Kusama reported on social media that the World Economic Forum (WEF) invited the project to collaborate on creating a global policy on the metaverse. The developer highlighted that if it comes to fruition, the project will work with other tech giants like Facebook and Decentraland in helping the WEF develop the policy.

What is ShibaSwap and how does it work?

ShibaSwap is a decentralized exchange platform launched to expand the utility and capabilities of the SHIB token ecosystem.

ShibaSwap is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform featuring a decentralized exchange (DEX) and passive income-generating services like staking, liquidity pools and yield farming in its ecosystem.

Launched in July 2021, ShibaSwap is a fork of SushiSwap, a popular DEX that is itself a fork of Uniswap (UNI), the world’s leading DEX by volume. But unlike its rivals, ShibaSwap’s core purpose has been mostly boosting the utility of Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens.

What are Shiba Inu tokens?

ShibaSwap uses three primary tokens: SHIB, Doge Killer (LEASH) and Bone (BONE).

Shiba Inu (SHIB)

SHIB is a Dogecoin-inspired memecoin created in August 2020 by the pseudonymous “Ryoshi.”

During its initial coin offering, the founder(s) distributed one quadrillion SHIB, with half allocated to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Later, Buterin donated 50 trillion SHIB to an Indian COVID-19 relief fund while sending the rest of the 450 trillion tokens to a dead wallet.

SHIB/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

Meanwhile, the remaining 500 trillion SHIB were locked in Uniswap and the owners discarded the private keys.

Doge Killer (LEASH)

As the name suggests, Doge Killer (LEASH) arrived as a part of SHIB’s effort to knock Dogecoin (DOGE) off its pedestal as the top memecoin by market capitalization. In its earlier days, the token saw a failed 1:1000 peg to the price of DOGE.

LEASH/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

LEASH functions as an ERC-20 token with a fixed supply of 107,647 tokens.

Bone (BONE)

Bone (BONE) serves as a governance token within the ShibaSwap ecosystem. In other words, holding BONE enables users to propose and vote on changes to the ShibaSwap protocol through the Shiba Inu Doggy DAO.

BONE/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

BONE’s maximum supply is 250 million coins.

How does ShibaSwap work?

ShibaSwap enables users to trade supported ERC-20 tokens directly with one another. The DEX’s most liquid tokens are Shiba Inu ecosystem coins, with data showing that BONE and LEASH have the highest trading volumes and order book depths.

Staking (BURY)

Owners of SHIB, LEASH and BONE can stake or BURY their coins into ShibaSwap pools for a specific timeframe to earn pre-determined annual percentage yields (APY). These yields get paid in the wrapped version of the staked tokens. For instance, staking 1 LEASH yields users 1 xLEASH.

ShibaSwap BURY (staking) APY. Source: Official Website

The pools distribute rewards weekly, but users can claim one-third of the amount. The rest of the staked capital gets vested for six months.

Liquidity Pools (DIG)

ShibaSwap grants users trading fee rewards (0.3% per trade) proportional to the liquidity they provide to its coin pairs. The rewards are handed out as Shiba Swap Liquidity Provider (SSLP) tokens are redeemable for BONE tokens whenever the liquidity provider wants. 

Yield Farms (WOOF)

SSLP holders can deposit these tokens to ShibaSwap’s yield farm pools to earn BONE rewards. This reward mechanism is similar to BURY, where users redeem one-third of the rewards instantly but need to lock the rest for six months.

What’s the price in your national currency? Check out our new cryptocurrency calculator

Some ShibaSwap yield farming pools grant rewards directly in Ether (ETH), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Dai (DAI), Tether (USDT), and USD Coin (USDC), according to the DEX’s documentation.

Burn Portal

ShibaSwap allows users to voluntarily burn their SHIB holdings, i.e., sending the tokens to a dead address. In return, the platform rewards the users with Ryoshi Token (RYOSHI), an ERC-20 token explicitly created as a burn reward.

NFTs

ShibaSwap also enables the minting, customization and trading of native nonfungible tokens (NFTs) called “Shiboshis.” These 10,000 digital collectibles of the Shiba Inu mascot cartoons will likely be a part of the gaming project called the Shiboshi Game.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Underdog rises: Dogecoin survived carnage in 2022 better than most

DOGE has performed much better than SHIB this year, despite the Shiba Inu community actively working on an L2 network, a metaverse and blockchain games.

Amid the severe crypto downturn in 2022, the price of Dogecoin (DOGE) has held up much better than most of the top assets on the market.

DOGE is the third-best performer in the top ten, having dropped “just” 58% this year, beaten only by XRP (XRP) and BNB (BNB), which saw declines of 57.2% and 53%.

Looking at the top 10 assets in terms of market capitalization as per Crypto Bubbles data, Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Cardano (ADA) and Polygon (MATIC) have all shed considerably more: 65.1%, 67.8%, 80.9 and 68.8%, respectively, over the past 12 months.

DOGE also comes in well ahead of other big names in the top 20 such as Polkadot (DOT), Solana (SOL), Uniswap (UNI) and Avalanche (AVAX), which have all plunged, by 84%, 93.8%, 70.3% and 89.9%, respectively.

Asset price nightmare 2022: Crypto Bubbles

Data from Intotheblock (ITB) also has interesting insights, with the majority (54%) of DOGE hodlers currently in the green at the current price of $0.07, while 3% are breaking even and 43% in the red.

ITB’s figures rely on identifying the average cost of token purchases in its tracked wallets and comparing it to the current price of the given asset.

Looking at other assets, ITB data indicates that 46% of BTC holders and 47% of ETH holders are currently in the green at the time of writing, showing the memecoin has performed well despite its volatile history.

DOGE summary: Intotheblock

The strong performance comes despite no significant news for the Dogecoin network or anything in the pipes to justify excitement going forward, barring some recent speculation that DOGE could potentially, possibly, one day be integrated with Elon Musk’s Twitter.

By way of comparison, Ethereum cut its energy consumption rates by 99% this year, with a slew of layer 2 projects helping it to scale. Fundamentals don’t have the power of memes, apparently.

SHIBA INU vs DOGE

However, DOGE’s memecoin competitor Shiba INU (SHIB) has also struggled, despite community efforts this year to build a full-fledged ecosystem consisting of blockchain games, nonfungible tokens and a metaverse platform.

The token is down 76.1% over the past 12 months, with just 14% of hodlers in the green, 4% breaking even and 82% in the red, according to ITB.

Related: The real-life dog behind memecoin DOGE is seriously ill

As it stands, DOGE is the eighth-largest crypto asset in terms of market cap at $10.1 billion, while SHIB sits at No. 17 with $4.8 billion, according to data from CoinGecko.

In some potentially bullish news for the SHIB community, however, pseudonymous lead dev Shytoshi Kusama has hinted that there could be a new partnership in the works relating to the Shibarium project.

Shibarium is an upcoming Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution that will host the ecosystem’s metaverse platform, games and a decentralized exchange.

Shytoshi Kusama’s bio was recently updated to read “WE are not alone” while their location was set to “With a new fren… guess who?.”

This followed up from a Christmas Eve tweet to their 865,400 followers that read:

“Wen Shibarium? Please know it will come very soon*, but not during a crucial time for people to spend with their family (or the resulting New Years party time). Enjoy these next days, next year is an important one for humanity.”


The real-life dog behind memecoin DOGE is seriously ill

The owner of the internet-famous Shiba Inu dog posted on social media that Kabosu is in a “dangerous position” after falling ill on Christmas Eve.

Kabosu, the Shiba Inu dog behind the face of Dogecoin (DOGE) and the “doge” meme is in a “dangerous position” healthwise, according to her owner.

In a Dec. 26 Instagram post that was then shared on Twitter, Atsuko Satō, a Japanese kindergarten teacher and Kabosu’s owner, said in Japanese that the rescue dog was in a “dangerous” state, but assured her followers that the canine will be “absolutely fine” and is “getting power from all over the world” from supporters.

Satō pictured with an ill Kabosu. Image: Instagram

The news brought an outpouring of support. One Twitter user sending well wishes offered to fully cover “any expenses needed to make sure she gets the best treatment.”

The co-creator of Dogecoin, Billy Markus,  asked his two million followers in a Dec. 26 tweet to send “[love] and [prayers] and good vibes” to Satō and Kabosu.

Satō didn’t disclose what health complications Kabosu is facing, but in an earlier post said that Kabosu has been sick since Christmas Eve, refusing to eat or drink.

It should be noted that Shiba Inu dogs have an average life expectancy of between 12 to 15 years and Kabosu celebrated her 17th birthday earlier in 2022.

A picture of Kabosu from Satō’s blog in 2010 inspired the viral “doge” meme format.

The original picture that kicked off the “doge” meme. Image: Satō’s blog.

Eventually, the popularity of the meme sparked the 2013 creation by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer of what’s considered the first “meme coin,” Dogecoin, which the pair said they created as a joke.

Kabosu is a popular figure in the crypto world, with Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin also visiting Kabosu and Satō in their Tokyo apartment in 2018.

Buterin and other Ethereum team members pictured with Kabosu. Image: Satō’s blog.

Dogecoin remains popular

Despite being created as a joke, Dogecoin remains hugely popular within the crypto world nearly 10 years after it was first created. 

DOGE is the 8th largest coin with its nearly $10.4 billion market capitalization according to CoinGecko data and saw a volume of over $332 million in the last 24 hours.

Related: Turkey has an obsession with crypto — Specifically Dogecoin: Study

Dogecoin was the second-most searched crypto on Google behind Bitcoin (BTC), averaging 5.85 million monthly worldwide searches in 2022.

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter had many Dogecoin users hopeful that he would integrate DOGE on the social media platform causing the price to rally on the news.

Musk has been a longstanding proponent of Dogecoin and at one point, before admitting it wouldn’t be feasible, planned to charge Twitter users 0.1 DOGE to post on the platform in a bid to cut down on scam posts.

Dogecoin has sparked a variety of similar dog-themed cryptocurrencies such as Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogelon Mars (ELON), and Floki (FLOKI), which was inspired by Musk’s Shiba Inu, Floki.

Top-five most Googled cryptocurrencies worldwide in 2022

Bitcoin remains the most-searched cryptocurrency in 2022 by far thanks to its top-brand status and being in a league of its own when it comes to decentralization.

Cryptocurrencies have suffered immensely in 2022 from the onslaught of a hawkish Federal Reserve and the implosions of crypto platforms FTX, Terra, Celsius Network, and others.

What were the most-searched cryptocurrencies in 2022?

Notably, the market valuation of all the cryptocurrencies combined has dropped 70% year-to-date (YTD) to nearly $770 billion, signifying massive capitulations by traders and investors alike.

The waning demand has also pushed the internet requests fo6r the keyword “buy cryptocurrency” to their lowest since February 2020, according to Google Trends.

Interest in the the keyword “buy cryptocurrency” over the past five years. Source: Google Trends

Nonetheless, the latest Accenture’s 2022 Global Consumer Payments report shows that retail interest in cryptocurrencies remains high despite 2022’s market crash. The reasons given by responders include long-term investments (28%), curiosity (22%), short-term speculation (21%), and others.

Meanwhile, separate research by personal finance portal DollarGeek dwells into 2022’s most-searched cryptocurrencies worldwide, thus presenting a rough outlook on what retail players may invest in heading into 2023.

Top 10 cryptocurrencies based on U.S. and global monthly searches. Source: DollarGeek

Bitcoin remains most-googled by far

Bitcoin (BTC) has emerged as the most googled cryptocurrency in 2022 in DollarGeek’s research, attracting 28.41 million monthly searches worldwide.

The interest remains relatively high as experts assess its quality compared to other crypto assets in the industry. For instance, venture capital investor Tim Draper thinks weaker coins will become relics amid the ongoing crypto winter to Bitcoin’s benefit.

Related: Tim Draper still positive on $250K Bitcoin price prediction in 2023

BTC’s price is down nearly 65% YTD with some analysts predicting it would fall further toward $10,000. But internet searches over the past 12 months reveal that most people have searched for buying Bitcoin, not selling it, which suggests that most people have still never owned Bitcoin. 

Interest in the keyword ‘”buy bitcoin” (red) and “sell bitcoin” (blue) over the last 12 months. Source: Google Trends

Elon Musk’s favorite Dogecoin bags the second spot

Dogecoin (DOGE) is the runner-up to Bitcoin, attracting an average of 5.85 million monthly searches worldwide in 2022.

The meme-cryptocurrency was in the news mostly due to Elon Musk who purchased Twitter and teased his followers with the idea of integrating DOGE payments for in-app payments. However, it also gained traction after getting listed on Robinhood, a U.S.-based commission-free trading platform.

Click “Collect” below the illustration at the top of the page or follow this link.

These events helped Dogecoin record temporary surges in internet searches, as shown in the Google Trends chart below. For instance, Musk’s eventual Twitter buyout in late October coincided with Dogecoin internet trends rallying to a perfect 100 score.

Interest in the keyword “Dogecoin” over the last 12 months. Source: Google Trends

So wile DOGE’s price is down roughly 55% YTD, the internet search data suggests that its potential pool of buyers could be relatively higher in number than sellers, similar to Bitcoin.

Interest in the keyword “buy Dogecoin” (blue) and “sell Dogecoin” (red) over the last 12 months. Source: Google Trends

Shiba Inu comes third but beats Dogecoin in US

Shiba Inu’s (SHIB) monthly internet searches globally came at 4.43 million. Nonetheless, the meme-coin has beaten its top-rival Dogecoin in the U.S., with 1.29 million monthly searches versus DOGE’s 729,000.

That is despite Shiba Inu’s weaker price performance in 2022 compared to Dogecoin. SHIB is down roughly 75% YTD, but staying in the news due to its foray into the metaverse and the potential launch of Shibarium, Shiba Inu’s Ethereum layer-2 blockchain.

In addition, the internet searches for Shiba Inu also spiked due to Crypto.com, a crypto exchange with the largest SHIB position as of November 2022. The market feared that Crypto.com would become insolvent, which will prompt it to sell its SHIB holdings.

Interest in the keyword “Shiba Inu”  over the last 12 months. Source: Google Trends

However, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek clarified that their mounting SHIB reserves are due to customer buying.

Merge assists Ethereum in securing the fourth position

Ethereum is the fourth most-googled cryptocurrency worldwide with 3.84 million monthly searches in 2022 despite Ether (ETH) price losing 67% YTD.

The second-largest blockchain by market cap stayed in the news throughout the year due to its switch to proof-of-stake (PoS) from proof-of-work (PoW) via the Merge. Notably, interest in the keyword “Ethereum” and related terms like “Ethereum 2.0” and “Merge” peaked in September when the PoS switch happened.

Interest in the keyword “Merge” over the last 12 months. Source: Google Trends

Ethereum’s internet searches may have also gained traction due to concerns that it has become a security after the PoS upgrade. Recently, crypto platform Paxful removed support for ETH citing similar reasons.

Cardano pump brings in the fifth-highest internet queries

Cardano (ADA) has attracted 1.47 million monthly internet searches on average in 2022, becoming the fifth-most googled cryptocurrency worldwide.

The Cardano trend picked up momentum specifically in January 2022 when ADA outperformed Bitcoin and Ether in price. Later, however, searches have been declining despite the Vasil hard fork in September failing to produce a spike in interest.

Interest in the keyword “Cardano” over the last 12 months. Source: Google Trends

Other honorable mentions of the most-searched cryptocurrencies in 2022 include Avalanche (AVAX), Litecoin (LTC), XRP (XRP), SafeMoon (SAFEMOON), and Nexus (NXS). 

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.