Cardano vs. Dogecoin: Which is Better?

Cardano (ADA) and Dogecoin (DOGE) have become two of the hottest cryptocurrencies for investors looking to get greater ROI than they might with the more common Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Both altcoins have gone up in value since their debuts, and they’ve each garnered public support from celebs like Kiss’ Gene Simmons—who loves Cardano and calls himself the “god” of Dogecoin—and tech mogul Elon Musk.

But while the currencies share similar investors, they aren’t exactly parallel. One is a memecoin (Doge), and the other is designed to contribute new utility to the evolving blockchain industry (Cardano). 

Cardano can be thought of as an alternative to Ethereum (aka an “Ethereum killer”), with its proposition to create a more environmentally conscious blockchain for smart contracts. Doge, on the other hand, was created as a meme. It has found new support as a potential replacement for the ever more pricey Bitcoin—but that happened mostly thanks to social media puns and wide scale community buy-in.

Let’s dive into how the two compare.

In the CoinDesk 20 list published by leading crypto news outlet CoinDesk, Cardano and Doge rank in the top 10 most valuable coins by market cap. Here’s how the two compare. 

(Note: We used data sourced at the time of writing, but prices change literally from second to second. Always do your research before you make any investments, and keep crypto holdings to a small percentage of your overall portfolio.)

Sources: Coinbase, CoinDesk, CoinMarketCap, Cardano.org 

Positioned as an Ethereum killer, Cardano was made as an environmentally conscious blockchain that allows for smart contracts, DeFi, and decentralized apps. Its consensus mechanism is the Proof-of-Stake, meaning that when blocks are added to the Cardano blockchain it is more environmentally sustainable. Cardano itself is a project. People think of its cryptocurrency, ADA, much like how they think of owning stock representing a share in a company. 

ADA, Cardano’s cryptocurrency, can be used to send and receive funds, as well as a store of value. The Cardano blockchain has the capability for smart contracts. It has therefore gained some popularity as a result of the increased attention surrounding NFTs and decentralized finance (DeFi)—especially as Ethereum goes under fire for costly gas fees.

Cardano sits at a $59.50 billion dollar market cap, making it the biggest Proof-of-Stake blockchain project in existence. 

The Cardano blockchain has many different capabilities, but most of these applications are still unused in the present market. In 2021, Cardano unveiled its smart contract capabilities. However, we’re still waiting for major mainstream applications for the Cardano blockchain. 

Cardano is being talked about as a more environmentally sustainable alternative to Ethereum, and one of the major projects in which Web 3.0 may be built on. It’s worth keeping a close eye on, or maybe getting in early in case it actually does replace Ethereum.

Cardano is integrally intertwined with Ethereum’s market performance. There have been many attempts to “kill Ethereum,” notably EOS some years ago. But Ethereum beat EOS due to the power of its existing community. Moreover, Ethereum aims to switch from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake later this year and into early 2022. When that happens, Cardano’s biggest value-add—being “the environmentally conscious Ethereum”—will lose its potency.

Dogecoin is a meme coin created in 2013 as a joke by IBM software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer. Both have sold most of their Dogecoin. Palmer has since become an open critic of the whole crypto ecosystem, while Markus is an advisor to the Dogecoin foundation. Dogecoin serves as a cryptocurrency—not a tech solution with potential utility like Cardano.

Dogecoin has historically been a meme in the crypto community, serving a joke to satirize the idea of cryptocurrencies. This changed when Elon Musk and other influential tech figures like Mark Cuban, started embracing the Doge meme. Dogecoin has now adopted a populist fervor, with it gaining clout amongst the Reddit and Twitter finance circles.

The market cap of Dogecoin is roughly $29.61 billion. The potential of an increased amount of Dogecoin circulating could impact this.

Dogecoin has been embraced by meme finance companies like AMC. AMC has said that it will accept the currency as a form of payment for movie tickets. Moreover, the Dallas Mavericks, owned by Dogecoin fan Mark Cuban, has been accepting Dogecoin on its website. There even is a Dogecoin social media: Helladoge.com. In line with the spirit of Dogecoin, the platform pays 80% of its ad revenue in Dogecoin to its users and keeps 20% for itself.

Dogecoin’s value is in its ever-growing community and as a potential digital currency alternative to Bitcoin. Dogecoin was the most mentioned cryptocurrency on Twitter earlier this year, and 62% of crypto revenue on Robinhood was due to Dogecoin. Many retailers are already accepting Dogecoin, and this could potentially continue.

The coin is inflationary, meaning that there is an unlimited amount of Dogecoin that could be printed at will. Compared to bitcoin, which has a built-in scarcity of 21 million coins, Doge’s value at the moment is tied to nothing more than celebrities promoting it. While its blockchain technology isn’t totally useless (its underlying tech is derived from an existing chain called Litecoin), it uses a Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism which is losing popularity compared to the more eco-friendly Proof-of-Stake model.

Cardano will likely never be used as a mainstream digital currency. People think of owning ADA like owning stock. Dogecoin has the potential to be a major online currency, however. Retailers and sports teams are already accepting Dogecoin on a case-by-case basis (mostly thanks to celeb influencers and franchise owners). 

As blockchain technology becomes more ubiquitous, Cardano has the potential to appreciate in value alongside the rest of the cryptocurrency market. It’s biggest competitor, Solana, has started taking much of its steam, however.

Dogecoin’s value is totally dependent on the ability of its meme to have staying power. Community buy-in is “hella” important when it comes to meme coins—but that’s got to be just the beginning for its price to mean anything. The Dogecoin meme will die down, but if major brands accept the currency and companies build up around it, it could potentially gain traction.

But just a note of caution: A meme coin finally “making it” and becoming mainstream might not be the best news for investors or traders looking for fast, exponential gains. The day Dogecoin becomes a normal currency is the day its price loses its trademark volatility which has led to many scoring big.

It’s unlikely that either will ever hit $100 dollars per coin.

For starters, there’s a huge circulating supply of Dogecoin—a bummer for the crypto evangelists who love Bitcoin’s built-in scarcity. That said, Dogecoin is random and tough to predict. It could skyrocket due to a tweet by an influencer, but overall its popularity is going down from its zenith earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Cardano is more apt to build slowly as an alternative for Ethereum, not build up a bunch of social media hype. It’s ability to skyrocket depends on how good Ethereum 2.0 is and what its biggest competitor, Solana, does.

According to price forecasts on niche crypto fan websites, Cardano will be worth between $5 and $20 in a few years.

There’s no telling with Doge. People say Dogecoin will go up to $5 in 2025, but most conservative estimates put it between $1.50 and $2.

Investing in either altcoin requires an appetite for risk, but Dogecoin is likely the riskier of the two. Unlike Cardano, which was built as a tech solution to improve blockchain and add value to the industry, Dogecoin relies on internet popularity and influencers.

Both coins are available on major crypto exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, and Gemini. You can also buy either on some stock trading platforms like Webull. Dogecoin is available on the popular trading app Robinhood, but Cardano is not.

Cardano and Dogecoin both present interesting investment opportunities. Cardano was created by a long-time crypto insider with the direct purpose of creating a “greener” Blockchain. Cardano’s cryptocurrency, ADA, is more akin to purchasing a stock of the Cardano blockchain project. 

Dogecoin, on the other hand, was created as a meme by two IBM software engineers who have both stepped away from the project. The project lives on due to the strength of its community. 

Cardano markets itself as a serious project, while Dogecoin was a joke that is now viewed seriously due to its insane market cap, adoption by major retailers, and general internet popularity. 

If you are a serious investor, Cardano is the smarter move. If you want to ride a wave that may have already passed, then try Dogecoin.