Dogecoin (DOGE -5.30%) was one of the crypto market's first meme coins. While the cryptocurrency token was seemingly started with somewhat of a joking context, it's shown impressive staying power since its debut way back in December 2013. Through some huge swings, the cryptocurrency now has a market capitalization of roughly $33 billion as of this writing -- making it the eighth-largest overall token by measure of valuation.
Dogecoin has always been a risky and highly speculative play, but it's actually managed to deliver incredible returns for investors who bought the crypto five years ago and held on to their tokens. Read on to see how much a $10,000 investment in Dogecoin made five years ago would be worth today -- and for a look at the key catalysts that are shaping its recent valuation moves.
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An investment in Dogecoin five years ago would have been a massive winner
If you invested $10,000 in Dogecoin five years ago and held on to your position, it would now be worth more than $600,000. While the crypto market has seen the introduction of a wide array of meme coins, Dogecoin has the largest level of support by far. For comparison, Shiba Inu ranks as the second-largest meme coin by valuation and has a market cap of roughly $7.5 billion. As of this writing, Dogecoin's market cap is roughly 4.4 times larger than Shiba Inu's market capitalization.
With the cryptocurrency market seeing a strong bull run over the last several months in response to political and macroeconomic tailwinds, Dogecoin has been a beneficiary of the momentum. The meme coin is up roughly 19% over the last three months and has recently seen gains connected to news that cryptocurrencies will become eligible for inclusion in 401(k) accounts.
On the other hand, Dogecoin is still down roughly 35% year to date -- and investors should proceed with the understanding that the cryptocurrency's potential for big upside comes with a high level of risk.
