Give the dog its due. Shiba Inu (SHIB 8.54%) vaulted out of nowhere to deliver the most jaw-dropping gains of any cryptocurrency in history.
But the meme coin's sizzle has fizzled in recent months. Sure, Shiba Inu has bounced back somewhat. However, some investors could be wondering if they'd be better off focusing their attention (and money) on up-and-coming digital tokens.
If you're looking for the next Shiba Inu, you might want to check out these two cryptocurrencies.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Kadena
Kadena (KDA 4.91%) is by no means a meme coin like Shiba Inu. That's not surprising, considering its roots with financial-services giant JPMorgan. Stuart Popejoy and Will Martino built JPMorgan's first blockchain before launching Kadena in 2016.
Why consider Kadena? It claims to provide "the security of Bitcoin, virtually free gas, unparalleled throughput, and smarter contracts." And that's not just hype.
Like Bitcoin, Kadena's blockchain uses a proof-of-work (PoW) protocol. But Kadena's unique chainweb architecture avoids the high transaction costs and sluggish processing associated with the PoW protocol.
Consumers incur minimal gas fees, while businesses can completely eliminate transaction fees for customers using Kadena's crypto gas station. Kadena's chainweb approach also supports blazingly fast processing, handling up to 480,000 transactions per second.
Are Kadena's smart contracts really smarter than rivals? Yes -- in one important way, at least. Kadena's programming language Pact makes it easier for developers to design smart contracts. And it automatically detects bugs, helping to avoid potential security exploits that other blockchains face.
2. Hedera
Hedera's (HBAR 10.15%) native HBAR token is another "anti-meme coin" of sorts. If you think Kadena has a blue chip connection, you'll probably be blown away by Hedera's ties. Hedera is owned and governed by 26 large organizations, including Alphabet, Boeing, and IBM.
Unlike Kadena, Hedera's network is built on a proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol. Some PoS blockchains are susceptible to security issues. However, Hedera's hashgraph consensus approach (which stores data in hashes within a graph instead of in blocks) offers the highest level of security possible.
Hedera also provides fast processing speeds -- more than 10,000 transactions per second. Its transaction fees are dirt cheap, averaging only $0.0001. It also is incredibly energy-efficient, using only 0.00017 kilowatt-hours per transaction. By comparison, Bitcoin uses around 885 kilowatt-hours per transaction.
As an added bonus, Hedera recently launched Smart Contracts 2.0. Its smart contracts are 10x faster than major rival blockchains.
History doesn't repeat itself
Could Kadena or Hedera be the next Shiba Inu? Probably not. History doesn't repeat itself. There might never be another cryptocurrency that skyrockets like Shiba Inu has.
However, both Kadena and Hedera could have a lot of room to run. Kadena's market cap currently stands at $1.3 billion, while Hedera's market cap is around $4.5 billion. They both offer key advantages that developers should appreciate. If more developers jump aboard, the prices of their respective tokens should rise accordingly.
