Dogs are no longer popular. The institutional wave is transforming the crypto marketbut it doesn’t lift all boats. As ETFs and professional investors focus their capital on Bitcoin and the assets deemed strongest, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu are sinking. The great memecoin fever now seems far behind us.
Key Points
DOGE and SHIB together now weigh only $13.27 billion Their capitalization is equivalent to just 1.02% of that of Bitcoin, a historic low. This ratio reached around 7% at the peak of the 2021 frenzy Bitcoin gained 10% for the month, while the two main memecoins fell around 2%
DOGE and SHIB fall to three-year low
The cumulative capitalization of Dogecoin and Shiba Inu fell to $13.27 billionits lowest level since September 2023. A drop all the more visible as Bitcoin is moving in the opposite direction. Over the past month, DOGE and SHIB lost around 2%while the price of bitcoin increased by 10%. Investors therefore do not necessarily desert the crypto market: they select assets more on which they agree to take risks.
The balance of power with Bitcoin summarizes this transformation. The capitalization of the two main memecoins now represents only 1.02% of the approximately 1,300 billion dollars attributed to BTC. This is the level lowest ever recorded. At the height of the speculative frenzy of 2021, this ratio reached almost 7%. In other words, for every 100 dollars of capitalization held by Bitcoin, DOGE and SHIB then represented around 7, compared to barely more than 1 today.
Dog tokens are no longer popular since the arrival of institutional players
Wall Street is buying Bitcoin, not dog memecoins
This relative fall coincides with themassive arrival of institutional investors. Since the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States in 2024, an increasing share of flows have been through regulated financial products. These investors consider Bitcoin more as a macroeconomic asset or a potential store of value that as a simple speculative bet. Capital is also flowing into sectors with identifiable uses, such as the tokenization of real-world assets, rather than tokens relying primarily on community popularity. The monetary environment also plays a role against memecoins. Sustainedly high interest rates reduce the appeal of riskier investments and limit the availability of the “easy money” that fueled speculation in 2021. This does not mean that memecoins will disappear. Of new frenzies can always appear around newer tokens. But DOGE and SHIB no longer automatically capture capital when the market starts to rise again. The memecoin fever may not have completely subsided, but its former stars no longer make people dream like they used to. As Wall Street moves into crypto, capital favors Bitcoin and projects deemed more solid. DOGE and SHIB will now have to find a new narrative to avoid becoming the remnants of the grand casino of 2021.