As meme coins continue their meteoric ascent, market analysts are tipping Dogecoin (DOGE) to be the biggest winner of the rally, but the climb to becoming a “blue chip” hangs in the balance.
According to Bill Noble, Director of Research at Emerging Assets, Dogecoin has the potential to evolve into money, rubbing shoulders with fiat in several verticals. In a Coindesk interview, Noble opines that DOGE can become the official currency of X (formerly Twitter) in the near future.
In a seemingly bold prediction, Noble argues that the dog-themed meme coin can hold legal tender status in Austin, Texas. The analyst hinges his claim on Elon Musk introducing DOGE payments on X and potentially creating a content moderation hub in Austin.
Back in January, Musk confirmed plans to float a content moderation team in Austin with a staff strength of 100, eyeing full-scale operation before the end of the year. He cites Austin’s status as a technology hub and whispers about transferring the social media platform’s headquarters to Texas.
“With Austin as a tech town, it could become this cool trendy thing to accept DOGE,” said Noble.
Other arguments backing his claim include Musk’s previous affinity with Dogecoin and his billionaire signalling support for the network and future utility.
Memecoins have hugged the spotlight since the start of the year, netting investors staggering profits running into triple-digit percentages. New entrants in the space, including dogwifhat (WIF) and BOOK OF MEME (BOME), have seen their market capitalization soar to new highs, but market leader Dogecoin appears set to leverage the sector growth for practical utility.
“If you have WIF and CAT coins with like hundreds of millions of dollars in market cap, DOGE almost becomes blue chip in a way,” said Noble.
The surge in valuation for meme coins has seen DOGE firmly entrenched in eighth place among cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of $27.5 billion. Its closest rival, Shiba Inu, sits in 12th place with a market cap of $16 billion, while WIF is the 36th largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Memecoins lead the way, but AI tokens are in hot pursuit
While meme coins enjoyed a buoyant first quarter, artificial intelligence AI-based tokens have posted impressive results in the same window. Cumulatively, AI tokens have gained returns of 222%.
Other massive gainers in the ecosystem include tokenized real-world assets and defi, which gained 285% and 98%, respectively. At the bottom of the pile, gaming tokens and layer-2 tokens have had a torrid first quarter, posting gains of under 40% compared to 2022 and 2023.
