First, there was Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE). Then came Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB). To make it a three-dog night, the wild world of meme coins spawned Floki Inu (FLOKI 1.67%), which resembles its predecessors by also bearing the face of a shiba inu.

Given this proliferation of canine-themed coins, and their reputation for being joke tokens, you might wonder whether Floki Inu is necessary or even real. But it is indeed real and has a surprisingly loyal following on social media.

Whether it's headed for hero or zero status is unknown, but a small allocation could offer fun and excitement, make you part of a community, and even provide multibagger gains if the crypto gods will it so.

A new dog in the race

While Dogecoin seems to be Elon Musk's pet project, it's not the only token with a connection to him. Apparently, Floki Inu is the collective brainchild of the Shiba Inu token community and was named after Musk's shiba inu. There doesn't seem to be verifiable evidence that Musk supports Floki Inu like he does Dogecoin, though, so don't count on the Floki Inu price getting a "Musk bump" anytime soon.

This doesn't mean that it lacks supporters. Indeed, there's a groundswell of support on social media as nearly 5,000 StockTwits users have added it to their watch lists while Twitter user @RealFlokiInu has 341,000 followers on the platform. A champion of the Floki Inu ecosystem (as evidenced by the Twitter user's blue check mark), @RealFlokiInu frequently informs the Floki "Vikings" about the latest Floki-centric developments, such as a petition to get the token listed on Binance.

Given the momentum of this grassroots movement, perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that the official Floki Inu website bills it as the "people's cryptocurrency." Apparently there are over 400,000 Floki holders, and there's even an educational platform called Floki University for the uninitiated.

Averse to the metaverse? Then stay away

After discovering Floki Inu's flourishing online community of Vikings, you might be enticed to make a small investment. Its ultra-low price (less than one-thousandth of a penny, or $0.00001) and nearly $82 million market cap might also pique your interest. Low-priced coins can sometimes make supersize moves under the right conditions.

Besides, while a Binance listing might prove elusive for the time being, Floki Inu did just get its first European listing on the LiteBit exchange.

Before dipping your paws into Floki Inu, however, it's wise to consider the risks. Sub-penny cryptocurrencies can lose value just as quickly as they can gain it, and price declines of 80% or more aren't unheard of.

And it is much more than a meme coin. Floki Inu is a metaverse-focused token and ecosystem. At the center of this ecosystem is Valhalla, a non-fungible token (NFT) metaverse game that will be powered by the FLOKI token, according to the platform's white paper. Evidently there's also a soon-to-launch NFT and merchandise store called FlokiPlaces in the works, wherein users can trade NFTs and merchandise with cryptocurrency.

At this point, your eyes might be rolling if you're an NFT skeptic -- or your ears might perk up like a shiba inu's if you're an NFT enthusiast. So if you're on board with the metaverse movement and particularly NFTs, Floki Inu might be right up your alley. Otherwise, this probably isn't the right project and token for you.

Ultimately, the digital coin's appeal lies not so much with an adoption trajectory as it does with a sense of community and what's possible when an apparent meme coin forms the foundation of a potentially thriving digital world. So, if you're OK with the risk of total capital loss (and your vision for Floki Inu leans more toward growth than corporate/mainstream adoption), then maybe you're ready to take a bite of this increasingly pup-ular crypto coin.