Why Dogecoin maintains its market cap dominance despite a flood of new meme coins

The year was 2013, when two software engineers, Milly Markus and Jackson Palmer, came up with a joke to satirise the speculative frenzy surrounding crypto like Bitcoin. However, it was not long until this memecoin (featuring the Shiba Inu dog as its logo) developed a vibrant online community. From there, thousands of other memecoins have followed in the footsteps of Dogecoin, but none have come close to dethroning it.

As of November 2025, Dogecoin had a market capitalisation of between USD 21 and 24  billion. This was approximately four to five times larger than its closest rival, Shiba Inu. And just so you know, a good number of the investors hail from India. You see, India has become one of the global regions that is most active when it comes to cryptocurrency, with Dogecoin being among the most sought-after tokens. Many traders and investors often follow up on the Dogecoin price India to track liquidity trends, market sentiment shifts and intraday momentum.

A legacy tied to a vibrant community

Since Dogecoin launched, the intention was not to be a huge technological breakthrough. Rather, it was a fun and lighthearted crypto built around a meme. This simplicity made it resonate widely, giving rise to one of the largest and most loyal communities in crypto.

As of 2025, the Dogecoin community adds up to more than 6.51 million users. In contrast, the second largest community is that of Shiba Inu with over 3.91 million holders. In fact, the DOGE community is nearly as large as the second and third memecoin (Shiba Inu and BabyDoge, respectively) combined. BabyDoge has approximately 2.87 million members.

In the world of memecoins, the community is equal to the value of the token. The bigger the army, the louder the movement. You see, most memecoins do not have an intrinsic utility or revenue model. What they have is a shared identity among holders, social energy and online culture. In this environment, the community is the engine behind the adoption, hype cycles, how visible the coin is and ultimately what the price ends up being.

This ends up giving the token value since there is higher demand when more people want to be part of the movement or speculation cycle. Take, for instance, the retail investors on Reddit’s r/dogecoin subreddit. By July 2025, the subreddit had seen an activity surge of 280%, with users coordinating buying campaigns to kick the price up to USD 0.22. By that, the Fear and Greed Index for Doge went up to 74 (greed), even though 27% of traders remained bearish. In another instance, a single Reddit thread predicting the price of DOGE to reach USD 2.00 in 2022 gained over 100,000 upvotes, leading to a short-term rally.

In the rapidly evolving world of crypto, new meme coins seem to come up nearly every day. And with each meme introduction comes viral hype and promised tokenomics. Yet, since its inception, the original memecoin, Dogecoin, has remained the champion by market capitalisation.

Volatility driven by celebrity intervention

If there was one memecoin that gets attention from celebrities, it is DOGE. Take Elon Musk’s involvement, for instance. As a DOGE enthusiast, his tweets, political engagements and platform antics have a significant effect on the coin. For example, in January 2025, Elon Musk led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative under President Donald Trump. The sheer fact that the initiative's initials were the same as the token's name gave a 20% price push to the token. 

However, the departure of Musk from the initiative and its premature shutdown negatively affected the Dogecoin market. One source states that after the feud between Musk and Donald Trump, within a week, DOGE’s price had gone down by 22%. And just to understand how much Elon has an effect on the market sentiments, within minutes of his apology tweet, the token had recovered 3%.

On another occasion, Musk’s temporary change of X’s logo to the Dogecoin mascot (Shiba Inu) earlier in the year caused a 30% price spike within a couple of hours.

These sharp rises and declines mirror broader crypto market patterns. As Binance CEO Richard Teng noted, “As with any asset class, there are always different cycles and volatility. What you're seeing is not only happening to crypto prices. Any consolidation is actually healthy for the industry, for the industry to take a breather, find its feet.”

This observation aligns closely with Dogecoin’s journey, where cycles of hype, correction, and community-driven recovery have defined its long-term durability.

Real-world uses and practicality

Even though DOGE began as a joke, it has, over time, acquired some practical uses, particularly due to its fast transactions, low fees and a strong community. Several industries have already incorporated the use of this token, for example:

• Online retailers like eGifter and the Dallas Mavericks allow customers to buy gift cards and even NBA game tickets.
• You can now book your flight and vacation packages using DOGE through travel booking platforms like Traval.com.
• Charitable donations and fundraising efforts by organisations like the Jamaican Bobsled Team.
• Purchasing in-game items and game keys from several online gaming platforms, including Steam and the Humble Bundle, is now possible using DOGE.

It is a fact that crypto sentiments continue to experience intense swings. For example, data from Binance recorded that Bitcoin’s Fear and Greed Index had dropped to 10 on 15 November, an event recorded in only 1.4% of days since 2018.

However, Dogecoin’s evolution, even though it stands as a different type of crypto,  has continued steadily. Unlike short-term fear cycles, real-world utility and strong community support have kept DOGE relevant beyond hype alone.