Most Dogecoin Holders Didn’t Buy the Elon Musk Top

Elon Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency is far, far away from an all-time high price of $0.73 set in 2021. But for a majority of Dogecoin holders, there’s little reason to tuck their tail in between their legs.

Some 77% of Dogecoin (DOGE) holders are in the money—meaning the cryptocurrency’s price is above what it was relative to when people bought it—according to IntoTheBlock. With 21% of Dogecoin holders posting paper losses, that leaves a 2% sliver of holders at breakeven.

The original meme coin with a market capitalization of $20 billion was created in 2013 as a joke, but it has a semi-serious place in the Tesla CEO’s heart. Based on a popular meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog, a cadre of canine-themed coins have steadily spawned in Dogecoin’s wake.

Though Musk’s Dogecoin posts have largely petered off, his cheerleading on Twitter spurred Dogecoin’s ascent in 2021. DOGE set its peak price of $0.73 early on May 8, 2021—just hours before Musk was set to appear on “Saturday Night Live.” Meme coin investors prayed that his prominent hosting role would propel DOGE, perhaps even to the fabled $1.00 mark.

Instead, the opposite happened. The token buckled over 20% in roughly an hour as Elon and his mom poked fun at Dogecoin, and he joked that it was “a hustle” during the show’s “Weekend Update” segment. It’s never recovered since.

Though some believe meme coins are undermining the long-term vision of crypto, meme coin mania can lead some traders to outsized returns. For others, risky bets can sour quickly as the crypto market oscillates with hallmark volatility.

The price of Dogecoin had risen 5% over the past day to $0.14, as of this writing, according to CoinGecko. Still, the cryptocurrency’s price has fallen 21% over the past 30 days—notably off from multi-year highs of $0.22 in March.

When it comes to the extent of holders’ paper gains, however, it appears Dogecoin isn’t top dog relative to other meme coins boasting a furry, four-legged mascot. That title currently belongs to the Ethereum-based meme coin Floki, with 83% of holders situated in the money.

Toward the tail end of the pack, 60% of Shiba Inu (SHIB) holders have profits on paper. (IntoTheBlock doesn’t report data on the Solana-based DogWifHat or Bonk.) Meanwhile, 75% of holders for the meme coin Pepe are in the green.

Drawing on everything from pop culture to internet memes—and even celebrity deaths—meme coins are distinct as a subgroup of digital assets that often offer little to no utility. Instead, they move mostly on vibes. Sometimes, though, they disappear entirely.

Edited by Andrew Hayward