Is Pepe the Next Dogecoin -- or Just Another Meme Coin That Will Fade?

Pepe (CRYPTO: PEPE), the cute frog-themed meme coin that proclaims the dogs have had their day, has a lot in common with Dogecoin. That's not so surprising since it was built in its image. Unfortunately, being the next Dogecoin is not necessarily a good thing.

Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) launched in 2013 as a joke poking fun at the way people bought into cryptocurrencies without fully understanding them. The founders did not expect or intend it to reach a market cap of over $14 billion, and that makes it difficult for Pepe or any other meme coin to follow in its footsteps.

Image source: Getty Images.

What Pepe and Dogecoin have in common

The first thing Pepe and Dogecoin have in common is that they have both fallen by almost 90% from their all-time highs. The two are among the top 100 cryptos by market capitalization, and have also seen dramatic growth (and drops) in short periods of time. After its initial spike at the end of 2024, Pepe has slowly trended downward, and at the time of writing (June 3), it is trading at $0.0000053 -- a drop of 74% in the past year.

Here are two more commonalities that unite the two.

1. Elon Musk is a big reason both coins soared

The self-proclaimed "Dogefather," Tesla CEO Elon Musk played a major role in Dogecoin's success with his repeated social media mentions of the coin. He even named a government department after his pet crypto. Pepe has also caught the billionaire's eye, and though the posts are less direct, featuring frog memes and images rather than text, they've still boosted its price.

2. Both were deliberately created with no purpose or value

Pepe's website says the coin is completely useless and has no formal team or roadmap, mirroring Dogecoin's original ethos. However, Dogecoin actually found utility as a way for Reddit users to tip one another, which Pepe has yet to do. With no fundamental value or any long-term credentials, the only real way for Pepe to soar again would be for Elon Musk or another big-name investor to mention it on social media.

Put simply, there's little to stop Pepe from fading away, particularly if you consider that many of the more than 11 million cryptocurrencies that failed in 2025 were meme coins.

Being the next Dogecoin is not a good thing

I understand wanting to emulate Dogecoin's enviable brand recognition and the good bits of its price performance. The problem is that it's a game of chance: Dogecoin succeeded by accident, and the Dogecoin Foundation has been trying to reverse-engineer some kind of strategy ever since.

I'd love to write that meme coins are a fun corner of the crypto industry that helps to build community and make investing accessible. Fun is part of The Motley Fool's DNA, after all. But losing money isn't fun. At best, meme coins are a distraction from the exciting potential of blockchain technology. At worst, they hide scams, fraud, and market manipulation, and cost investors money.

You're extremely unlikely to build wealth by speculating on Dogecoin or Pepe. If you have even a small amount of money to invest, consider investments with proven track records, like an S&P 500 index fund. Or an established cryptocurrency like Ethereum or Solana, which are the ecosystems where many meme coins are built.

Ultimately, going to a fancy French restaurant and eating frog's legs would be a better way to spend your money than buying Pepe.

Emma Newbery has positions in Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Ethereum, Solana, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.