Luck might have favored early buyers of certain cryptocurrencies, but lightning rarely strikes the same spot twice, and almost never if there aren't a set of factors forcing it to happen. Many of the once-tiny tokens at the center of the 2021 crypto bonanza have since swollen into large-cap behemoths, but only a couple have the gas in the tank to repeat the feat.
In that vein, Dogecoin (DOGE 1.29%) began as a meme coin made of pure whimsy, whereas Solana (SOL 1.04%) pitched itself as a high-speed platform for serious developers -- only to recently get a reputation for being a meme coin casino rather than a venue for economically valuable projects.
Could either of these assets make someone who invests now into a millionaire?
CRYPTO: SOL
Key Data Points
Solana is still powering up while others idle
Before a coin can multiply in value, it needs rising demand. In turn, there need to be some underlying drivers to incentivize users and investors to create that demand.
On the demand front, Solana's on-chain usage keeps smashing its own records.
The chain's active wallet addresses hit 116.4 million in June, more than every other Layer-1 (L1) and Layer-2 (L2) chain combined, while its Q2 revenue topped $271 million, leading the industry by leaps and bounds. That activity feeds directly into Solana's token-burning mechanism, somewhat tightening supply just as headlines draw in fresh investors.
Developers follow users and capital, and vice versa. In 2024, Solana was the top destination for new application developers in crypto, attracting 7,625 fresh contributors, an 83% year-over-year leap that even nudged its archrival Ethereum from the top slot.
The influx is seeding even more growth into an already sprawling ecosystem. The chain's segments, like decentralized finance, decentralized physical infrastructure networks, meme coins, on-chain AI frameworks, and tokenized real-world assets, are all jockeying for attention, capital, and new users.
Image source: Getty Images.
That's a big part of the reason the chain's bridges with institutional capital keep appearing. Visa's stablecoin platform singles out Solana's rapid settlement layer as fit for mainstream payments, hinting that major consumer payment services may eventually plug straight into the chain's validator set.
None of the above guarantees that the coin will experience the 100-fold upside it would need to make an investor with a position of $10,000 into a millionaire, yet it does create a credible growth flywheel. Usage of Solana's main segments delivers network fees and revenue, which increases the coin's staking yield, thereby further incentivizing inflows of institutional capital seeking a yield, and therefore also stoking developer interest to make new apps and subsequently drive more usage in the future.
Most chains in crypto don't have that right now, and it's why Solana is one of the sector's leaders.
The meme that forgot to evolve
Dogecoin's superpower is its cultural cachet. Pretty much everyone has heard of it, and anyone who has heard of it has probably heard at least vaguely about its face-melting run-ups in 2021 and late 2024.
Unfortunately, memes don't write code, nor do they entice institutional capital. Dogecoin averaged fewer than six active developers per month back in late 2019, and the picture has scarcely improved since then because there's no mechanism for creating that outcome. The latest core release landed seven months ago and delivered minor bug fixes rather than new functionality -- and there aren't exactly a legion of technical users clamoring for either.
CRYPTO: DOGE
Key Data Points
Another issue is that Dogecoin's supply policy is inflationary by design. Five billion new Dogecoin tokens enter circulation each year. The coin's total circulating supply right now is about 150 billion.
That steady supply drip dilutes existing holders unless demand rises faster, which is a very tall order for an asset with no real use case. There is no smart contract platform, no native stablecoin, no compliance toolkit for institutions, and no serious roadmap to change any of the above.
Without any utility to anchor value, Dogecoin remains chained to fickle sentiment and the occasional celebrity tweet. It might be the king of the meme coins, but it isn't going to gain in value unless the external macroeconomic and liquidity environment is overwhelmingly favorable, at which point there are probably still better assets to invest in.
There is only one sensible verdict here
As stated previously, turning $10,000 into $1 million means achieving a 100-fold return.
For Solana, a 100-fold move from today's $89 billion market cap would create an $8.9 trillion monster, which is to say that it would be larger than a couple of the world's largest corporations combined. For Dogecoin, 100-fold on a $31 billion market value implies a $3.1 trillion meme coin. Either scenario is theoretically possible, yet wildly improbable given macro-liquidity constraints and the still-tiny share of global wealth allocated to digital assets.
Do not buy either of these coins hoping to become a millionaire because it won't happen.
But if your goal is to inch closer to seven-figure wealth, Solana offers the only credible shot, provided you can stomach volatility, regulatory surprises, and the chance that another chain outcompetes it in key segments.
