Dogecoin — the Shiba Inu dog-themed cryptocurrency — started as a joke in 2013 but has slowly but steadily carved some space for itself. This year, so far, Dogecoin has emerged as one of the most traded cryptocurrencies. However, the meme-based digital coin remains largely concentrated in a few hands. A gargantuan sum of DOGE 106 billion, comprising 82 percent of the supply, is held on-chain by only 535 entities. These entities hold over DOGE 10 million each.
Figures from the last six months, since around the time Elon Musk and Reddit started focussing on Dogecoin, paint another very interesting picture. Investors, who acquired DOGE tokens in the last six months, now hold 25 percent of the total supply. Dogecoin price in India stood at Rs. 21.78 as of 5pm IST on August 30.
According to a report by market intelligence firm Chainalysis, Dogecoin price skyrocketed only after the Tesla CEO and Reddit turned their attention on the meme token. In its report, Chainalysis said that new investors are adopting the token on a level not seen since late 2017. The new investors raised their share of supply from just 9 percent in July last year to 25 percent in August this year.
In a sharp contrast, the share of investors who held Dogecoin for more than two years has fallen from 30 percent in July 2020 to 20 percent in August 2021.
Dogecoin holders: How it all adds up
There’s a total of 4 million on-chain holders of Dogecoin. However, only a small number of extremely wealthy entities own a massive part of the supply. Chainalysis says that these 535 entities are likely a combination of businesses, including exchanges that store DOGE for traders, and a few other wealthy investors. Among the wealthiest 535 accounts that hold 82 percent of the supply, at least 31 investors own DOGE 37 billion of the DOGE 106 billion and have held them for a period of between six months and two years.
Among other investors, 2.1 million of the 4 million entities own less than DOGE 100 each, with half of these entities holding the cryptocurrency for more than two years.
