Shiba Inu rose to fame shortly after Dogecoin, and it delivered one of the best returns in the history of financial markets when it soared 45,278,000% in 2021. In other words, if you invested just $3 in the meme token on Jan. 1, 2021, your position would have been worth over $1 million on Dec. 31!

However, like Dogecoin, Shiba Inu went on to lose over 90% of its peak value in 2022. Speculative frenzies never last, and this meme token doesn't have a prominent figure like Elon Musk in its corner to keep investors interested.

Nevertheless, Shiba Inu has gained 146% in 2024 so far on the back of improving sentiment across the crypto industry, but it's still not even halfway to reclaiming its all-time high from 2021. The Shiba Inu community has tried to create new use cases for the token to support its value, but they haven't moved the needle. Developers even started building a metaverse in 2021, where investors could spend their Shiba Inu tokens to customize virtual blocks of land. However, three years on, the virtual world still hasn't launched.

Only 1,032 merchants worldwide accept Shiba Inu as payment for goods and services (according to Cryptwerk), so it has even less real-world utility than Dogecoin. As a result, don't be surprised if the latest rally eventually fizzles out.

Bitcoin is the world's largest cryptocurrency. It has a market capitalization of $1.9 trillion, so it makes up over half of the crypto industry's entire market cap on its own. With a year-to-date gain of 121%, Bitcoin might be up less than Dogecoin and Shiba Inu right now, but it's actually trading at a record high.

The industry-leading cryptocurrency doesn't necessarily have any additional utility compared to Dogecoin or Shiba Inu, because it isn't widely accepted as payment in the places consumers shop every day. However, Bitcoin has become a reliable store of value, with many experts likening it to a form of digital gold.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved dozens of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) this year, which gives financial advisors and institutional investors a regulated way to own the cryptocurrency. The top 10 ETFs alone manage almost $100 billion in client money, and as that number continues to grow, it foreshadows further upside in the price of Bitcoin.

The value of above-ground gold reserves worldwide is currently $18 trillion. That might be an appropriate long-term target for Bitcoin's market cap if the wider investment community truly adopts it as a digital alternative to the shiny yellow metal. That implies a price-per-Bitcoin of around $909,000, which represents a potential 826% upside from where it trades as of this writing.

Some Wall Street analysts think it can go even higher in the long run. Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management, for example, thinks the price of a single Bitcoin could rise to $1.48 million by 2030 based on eight potential factors. Adoption by institutional investors, and becoming digital gold, are just two of them.

All three of these cryptocurrencies are speculative assets. Investors largely buy them in the hope of higher prices in the future.

However, Bitcoin probably has the best chance to deliver long-term upside for the reasons I highlighted. Despite several steep corrections over the last decade, it has always recovered to make new highs. The more often that happens, the more confident investors will become in its effectiveness as a store of value.

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, on the other hand, haven't displayed that resilience, and it's unlikely either of them will win the support of regulators or institutional investors in the future. Therefore, proceed with caution if you're thinking about buying either of them.

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Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Better Buy: Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, or Bitcoin? was originally published by The Motley Fool