Cryptocurrencies are hot investments once again, with many high-profile investors and companies buying in. Elon Musk alone spent much of the early 2020s on Twitter (TWTR) promoting two crypto projects in particular – Bitcoin ($BTC) and Dogecoin ($DOGE).
And he’s not the only one, with prominent billionaires, banks, and brands finally accepting and supporting crypto assets.
But when it comes to bitcoin vs dogecoin, whish is the better cryptocurrency?
Unlike many modern blockchain platforms, each of these crypto projects is meant as a currency. They are vanilla crypto currencies used as fungible stores of value to replace fiat currency. Neither pays dividends nor provides any ownership in a company, like a traditional stock.
Instead, these popular cryptocurrencies are at the forefront of the broader decentralized finance (defi) movement. Digital assets, like BTC, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and DOGE, are no longer niches only accessible to the most hardcore of tech-competent geeks.
Crypto is mainstream, and it’s important to understand its place in society, even if the mechanics under the hood are too complicated for you.
Cryptocurrency Intro
The term “cryptocurrency” is used to describe a broad range of decentralized digital assets. While the thousands of crypto projects differ in programming and execution, what they all have in common is the distributed or decentralized digital ledger and strong cryptographic techniques used to secure the transactions.
Bitcoin and dogecoin are both cryptocurrencies, in that they’re meant to be used as a form of payment. They use blockchain technology to decentralize and encrypt transactions across a network of mining nodes processing them.
Combined, they have over a $1 trillion market capitalization, although the bulk is in the top 100 crypto projects. Bitcoin is the first, making it the apex cryptocurrency. It’s the most widely accepted as payment, while dogecoin quickly gained a cult following based on savvy marketing of the meme mascot used.
Bitcoin was initially designed to tear down the traditional banking system. It was mostly used in deep web marketplaces and didn’t reach mainstream attention until its historic price rise in 2017. From that point, the crypto industry bloomed. Both cryptocurrency and blockchain became household terms.
Today, you can buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency through PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), Square (NYSE:SQ), USAA, and more. You can be paid in crypto, use it to pay tuition, or even buy an electric vehicle from Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA).
But to answer the question of which is best, we need to dig into the differences and similarities between the two. Let’s start with bitcoin.
The Bull Case for Bitcoin
Many high-profile investors and analysts over the years made a bullish case for bitcoin, including John McAfee, Tim Draper, and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. They see it as a competitor for traditional fiat currencies, which are government backed. Should the U.S. dollar or other fiat currencies deflate, bitcoin is a hedge against it.
The over $2 trillion being spent on crypto assets is ultimately converted to either BTC or ETH before it can be liquidated.
Although there are over 6000 cryptocurrency projects around, the vast majority are not accepted by government-approved exchanges and wallets.
Bitcoin is the apex crypto, which means the rest of the crypto industry’s value typically follows it. There are a few exceptions (DOGE being a notable one), but altcoins are heavily weighted by the price and liquidity of bitcoin.
And it’s accepted in more mainstream places than ever before. You can spend bitcoin at Microsoft (MSFT), Home Depot (HD), Starbucks (SBUX), Twitch, Overstock, AT&T (T), Wikipedia, and more.
It’s the most widely accepted cryptocurrency as payment, and you can even buy and sell it on traditional trading platforms like Robinhood and WeBull.
Musk is bullish on it, buying $1.5 billion BTC through Tesla and allowing it as a form of payment for its products. Like Musk, ARK Invest founder and chief investment officer Cathie Wood is bullish on bitcoin (and Tesla for that matter).
Even if you’re not directly invested in it, Tesla and ARK’s prominent positions in the market mean you’re probably indirectly invested in bitcoin. And that means you need to understand both the pros and cons, so let’s explore the dark side of bitcoin.
The Bear Case for Bitcoin
Although it has a dedicated cult-like following, not everybody’s aboard the bitcoin bandwagon. In fact, mainstream analysts still only recommend putting one percent of your net worth into crypto. And that’s the advice from the crypto bulls.
Bears remind you that the entire cryptocurrency industry was on the decline from 2018 through 2020. It was pitched as a recession-proof alternative investment, but bitcoin fell like everything else in the market during the coronavirus crash.
And the first bitcoin price spike in 2017 was found to be due to price manipulation. A stablecoin called tether (USDT) was artificially generated without fiat dollars to back it. That tether was then used to buy bitcoin, pushing its price to meteoric heights of nearly $20,000. From that point, it was almost entirely downhill.
The price eventually recovered from the crash and reached new record heights. But this is being called a bubble, and research firm Quant warns the price of bitcoin may have been manipulated once again.
Because of this, some crypto fanatics are moving to another popular cryptocurrency: dogecoin.
How Dogecoin Got Started
Dogecoin is a memecoin created in 2013 by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus. Palmer is a project manager and marketing genius who hired Markus to develop Dogecoin using a devtome guide on how to clone altcoins. He created a Litecoin clone and branded it with the internet-famous Doge meme.
The doge is an internet meme that reached full internet popularity in 2013. It’s a purposeful misspelling of “dog” featuring Comic Sans type with phrasings like “wow so scare” over a picture of a Shiba Inu. Several doges have been used throughout the meme’s history, and the dogecoin cryptocurrency grew in another direction.
Palmer pushed the coin by involving the brand in charity and even sponsoring a NASCAR racecar driver. This made it a popular coin for internet tipping and other frivolous uses, because the coin itself was worth less than $0.01. However, things changed when Musk started tweeting all things DOGE.
Elon Musk Dogecoin
Musk spent much of the first half of 2021 tweeting about DOGE. Every time he does, the price rises, and it stayed above the $0.01 mark since he got involved. And despite being watched with a high level of scrutiny, he shows no sign of slowing.
On April Fool’s Day 2021, he again pushed for DOGE, even promising to literally send it to the moon through SpaceX. Each time he tweets, Musk pushes DOGE closer to the $0.10 mark. Its most fervent believers think it can even be worth $1.00 in the next decade.
SpaceX is going to put a literal Dogecoin on the literal moon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2021
The only problem is DOGE isn’t as widely accepted as bitcoin. Besides supporting Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks, there isn’t much you can do to spend it. Instead, you’ll need to inevitably convert your DOGE to BTC or USD if you want it to have much utility as a payment.
Although Musk loves it, it’s important to understand dogecoin is meant as a joke and doesn’t have a team supporting its development.
Bitcoin vs Dogecoin: Which Is Best?
Bitcoin and dogecoin are the most popular cryptocurrencies on the planet. They are traditional cryptos that act as replacements for fungible fiat cash. They’re not used for blockchain development, NFTs, or anything else. This makes them vanilla crypto currencies and somewhat equal in that aspect.
Musk may be invested in both, but bitcoin is the winner, as it forms the backbone for the rest of the crypto industry. It’s the entry-level crypto with the most possibilities of spending it. However, all cryptocurrencies have volatile pricing, so be careful what you invest in it.
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