Got $4,000? Which Is the Better Cryptocurrency to Buy Right Now: Dogecoin vs. Solana?

Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) both had their time in the sun during the now-mythical 2021 crypto bull market. But both coins have since struggled to surpass their former glory, and their performance over the last 12 months has been quite similar -- and quite poor; Dogecoin is down by 61%, and Solana is down by 52%.

So if you're looking to allocate a large investment of $4,000, which of these two is the better buy? There's a right answer here even if it goes against what your gut might say.

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Don't buy Dogecoin

Dogecoin is one of the crypto market's most recognizable meme coin brands, and it's true that its unnervingly durable brand power can periodically create price spikes to absurd heights. One big problem with investing based on that information is that there's no way to predict when the price spikes will happen, assuming they ever do.

But there's another issue which makes buying the coin then waiting patiently for a decent exit opportunity into something that's a problematic proposition. Dogecoin has no maximum supply cap, and it mints about 5 billion new coins per year, which means holders face steady dilution of their value over time. For other coins, that wouldn't necessarily be a fatal flaw because they have mechanisms which could credibly lead to the coin growing faster than holders get diluted. But Dogecoin has no such mechanism, so the longer you hold it, the more you'll lose.

Nonetheless, Dogecoin does have a group of developers working on it which could theoretically in the future create features which drive steady growth. But its recent updates are comprised of bug fixes, not new capabilities, and there's not much hope for that to change moving forward.

Solana is the only real option here

Unlike Dogecoin, Solana has plenty of utility today and even more on the way for tomorrow. It's designed as a high-throughput smart contract platform, and it competes by offering high speed and low transaction fees for applications that need lots of on-chain activity to prosper.

As a result of those capabilities, Solana posts large daily transaction counts, and it has more than 2.1 million active wallet addresses per day. On Feb. 19 alone, its on-chain applications generated more than $3.4 million in app revenue, which means that real users are using the chain as a platform to create real economic value. In other words, people need to buy the coin to use it, which they appear to regularly want to do.

Assuming its lead in cost savings and speed is maintained, which is likely, the coin will continue to grow as it onboards more apps, more users, and more reasons for the circulating capital to stay on the chain.

So for an investment of $4,000, there's simply no contest: Solana wins by a million miles, because it has multiple plausible drivers for sustained demand. In contrast, Dogecoin has no investment thesis.

Alex Carchidi has positions in Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.