Is Shiba Inu At Risk Of Losing Its Second-Largest Meme Coin Position To PEPE And MemeCore?

bitcoinistPublished on 2025-09-24Last updated on 2025-09-24

Abstract

The war among meme coins for dominance has been rising with more and more contenders popping up over the years....

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

The war among meme coins for dominance has been rising with more and more contenders popping up over the years. While Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have maintained their positions as the largest meme coins in the game, the possibility of losing these positions is still very real. Just like Shiba Inu was able to briefly flip the Dogecoin market cap back in 2021, it seems Shiba Inu is now at risk of losing its position to competitors who have raised cult-like followings on social media.

PEPE And MemeCore Run Up On Shiba Inu For Meme Coin Dominance

Despite the market crash, the Shiba Inu market cap is still above $7 billion, putting it at a relatively safe distance away from its rivals. However, with meme coin culture usually triggering rapid rallies for coins like PEPE and MemeCore, this gap would be quickly filled.

According to data from CoinGecko, MemeCore, which is currently the third-largest meme coin by market cap, is sitting at a $4.05 billion market cap compared to Shiba Inu’s $7.1 billion market cap. What this means is that it will take less than a 100% move from MemeCore to actually surpass the Shiba Inu market cap. Historically, this is an easy feat for meme coins, which are known to rise sharply in a matter of hours or days.

PEPE comes in at fourth place with a close $4 billion market cap, almost matching the market cap of MemeCore. Given this, the same logic as MemeCore applies in this case, in the fact that it would take less than a 100% increase in price for it to surpass the market cap of Shiba Inu.

However, these moves suggest that the Shiba Inu price does stay muted and barely moves in the times when the rivals are rallying, which is rarely the case. But with the Shiba Inu team running into some problems recently, the second-largest meme coin by market cap could have a hard time keeping up.

Shibarium Hack Leaves SHIB Investors Stunned

The Shiba Inu ecosystem recently ran into problems when its Ethereum Layer 2 network, Shibarium, suffered a major bridge attack. In the wake of the attack, the attackers were able to get away with more than $4 million in assets such as Ethereum and Shiba Inu BONE through a bridge validator attack.

This drain put a strain on the already struggling network, whose Total Value Locked (TVL) has remained below $5 million in the last four months. In the wake of the event, the Shibarium network saw its TVL crash from $4.58 million to $2.64 million at the time of this report, citing data from DeFiLlama.

Shiba Inu Shibarium TVL
Source: DeFiLlama

So far, efforts to recover the stolen assets have failed, as placing a bounty on the loot has not worked. The Shiba Inu team has since said that they are working with a cybersecurity firm to put stronger security measures in place, as a postmortem report is expected. Meanwhile, the bridge remains paused with no definite timeline for restoration, and a plan for asset recovery/compensation is yet to be published.

Shiba Inu price chart from TradingView.com
SHIB price suffers flash crash | Source: SHIBUSDT on TradingView.com
Featured image from Dall.E, chart from TradingView.com
Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

Scott Matherson is a leading crypto writer at Bitcoinist, who possesses a sharp analytical mind and a deep understanding of the digital currency landscape. Scott has earned a reputation for delivering thought-provoking and well-researched articles that resonate with both newcomers and seasoned crypto enthusiasts. Outside of his writing, Scott is passionate about promoting crypto literacy and often works to educate the public on the potential of blockchain.

Trending Cryptos

Related Reads

DRAM ETF Issuer: Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron All Surpass $1 Trillion, the AI Era of Memory Chips Has Only Just Begun

Authors: Dave Mazza, Thomas DiFazio | Source: Deep Tide TechFlow The article, written by Roundhill Investments (issuer of the DRAM ETF), responds to Morningstar's caution about investing in memory chip stocks. Morningstar warns of the sector's history of boom-bust cycles, a lack of economic moats, and potential momentum-driven overvaluation. Roundhill argues the current situation is structurally different due to AI. Key points in Roundhill's rebuttal include: * **Changed Demand & Supply Dynamics:** AI infrastructure, not consumer electronics, is now the primary growth driver for memory demand. New, strict long-term supply agreements with hyperscalers reflect the high capital intensity of advanced manufacturing. * **Existence of a Moat:** High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM), essential for AI, has extremely high manufacturing barriers. The market is dominated by Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, with new entrants blocked by technological complexity and long lead times for equipment like ASML's EUV machines. * **Strong Fundamental Outlook:** Analyst consensus projects the three companies will rank among the world's most profitable by 2027, with combined profits of $704 billion on over $1 trillion in revenue. Their operating margins have already reached record highs. * **Valuation Re-rating:** Despite significant stock price gains, memory stocks trade at attractive valuations (e.g., a median NTM P/E of 8.37x for the DRAM ETF) relative to projected explosive EPS growth. Roundhill suggests historical valuation frameworks may no longer apply given the new profitability paradigm. Conclusion: Roundhill contends the rally is justified by fundamentals, marking a structural shift for the memory industry into a new era of sustained, AI-driven demand against constrained supply, rather than a repeat of past cycles.

marsbit3m ago

DRAM ETF Issuer: Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron All Surpass $1 Trillion, the AI Era of Memory Chips Has Only Just Begun

marsbit3m ago

EF's Epic Reorganization: 20% Layoffs, Budget Halved, Is Ethereum Gearing Up for a Leaner Future?

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has announced a major organizational restructuring, involving a 20% staff reduction (approx. 54 employees) and a division into functional clusters like Protocol, Access, User, Community, and Institutional layers. Co-founder Vitalik Buterin further revealed plans to cut the EF's budget by around 40% over the coming years, aiming to reduce its annual spending rate from about 15% to roughly 5% by 2030, transitioning to an endowment-driven model. This overhaul is seen as a long-overdue correction to the EF's ambiguous role. As Ethereum grew, the foundation faced persistent criticism over ETH sales, perceived lack of execution, and unclear strategy, often becoming a focal point for community frustration amid ETH's price stagnation. The reform aims to redefine the EF's boundaries, narrowing its focus to core protocol research, public goods funding, and ecosystem coordination, while offloading more applied development work to the broader market. Concurrently, ecosystem forces like the newly formed Ethlabs (founded by ex-EF researchers) and other independent groups are stepping in to fill the space, signaling a shift from a centralized model to a more distributed, collaborative ecosystem structure. The move was notably praised by Solana co-founder toly, who viewed a "leaner" EF as potentially more decisive and agile.

Odaily星球日报44m ago

EF's Epic Reorganization: 20% Layoffs, Budget Halved, Is Ethereum Gearing Up for a Leaner Future?

Odaily星球日报44m ago

Dragonfly Partner Haseeb: The Fastest-Growing Companies of the Future May All Get Stuck at 149 Employees

Dragonfly partner Haseeb explores the distorted economics of AI model pricing, drawing parallels to tax policy. He notes that startups and small teams (under 150 users) enjoy heavily subsidized, fixed-price AI subscriptions (like Claude Code), where the marginal cost of an additional token is effectively zero. This creates a powerful incentive for them to maximize token usage ("token-maxxing") and innovate aggressively with AI automation. In contrast, large enterprises (over 150 users) are forced onto "Enterprise" plans, paying per-token API fees with high (~75%) markups. This acts like a steep "tax" on AI-powered labor, disincentivizing marginal automation and experimental use, and encouraging them to retain more human workers. Haseeb argues this pricing creates a "150-person cliff," a regulatory notch similar to labor laws in France that discourage firms from growing past 50 employees. He predicts the fastest-growing future companies may deliberately cap their headcount at 149 to avoid the punitive enterprise pricing. This would foster an "AI-first" management philosophy obsessed with automation and outsourcing to stay lean. While not intentionally designed, this bifurcated pricing could become one of the most influential de facto tax policies, shaping how AI replaces labor—not through mass layoffs at big firms, but through agile, AI-native startups outcompeting them.

marsbit55m ago

Dragonfly Partner Haseeb: The Fastest-Growing Companies of the Future May All Get Stuck at 149 Employees

marsbit55m ago

How xBubble Breaks Through in the VC-Heavily-Backed OPC Economy

xBubble: Addressing the Structural Gap in the VC-Backed OPC Economy The concept of OPC (One Person Company) is evolving from a buzzword to a significant AI-driven market. While AI coding tools like Replit and Lovable have validated demand from non-technical users wanting to build applications, a key gap remains: the leap from creating a demo to running a stable, evolving business. These tools still require users to manage the development process, including technical judgments for integrations, modifications, and deployments—a major hurdle for OPCs. xBubble, by DAPPOS, tackles this by shifting from "Prompt-to-Code" to "SOP-to-Business." Instead of generating code from instructions, its core is a system of pre-organized SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) that translate business goals—like "sell World Cup merchandise"—into complete, executable workflows. This includes generating cohesive assets, pages, payment systems, and backend logic. The platform is augmented by a network of third-party service providers who handle infrastructure (hosting, domains, payment setup), acting like "on-site service engineers." Users can pay for these services directly with xBubble credits, simplifying onboarding. This ecosystem aims to deliver not just an app, but a complete, modifiable business launch path. xBubble targets a clear OPC segment: small commercial nodes (e.g., creators, merchants) with existing products, customers, or channels, but for whom a full tech team is unjustifiable. Its potential lies in SOPs accumulating expertise from real cases, improving reliability and reducing delivery costs over time. Additionally, its native support for crypto payments caters to global or digital-native OPCs. In summary, as AI democratizes software creation, xBubble's opportunity is to prove that "SOP-to-Business" provides more immediate value for launching a real, operational business than a powerful but unstructured AI coding tool.

链捕手58m ago

How xBubble Breaks Through in the VC-Heavily-Backed OPC Economy

链捕手58m ago

Trading

Spot
Futures

Hot Articles

Discussions

Welcome to the HTX Community. Here, you can stay informed about the latest platform developments and gain access to professional market insights. Users' opinions on the price of MEME (MEME) are presented below.

活动图片