TL;DR

• Analyst Ali Martinez suggests that Dogecoin (DOGE) could experience significant gains if it stays above the $0.17 support zone.
• The potential launch of a spot Dogecoin ETF, with applications acknowledged by the SEC from major firms like Grayscale and Bitwise, could boost investor access and demand, positively impacting the price in the long term.

The Bullish Scenario

The biggest meme coin in terms of total market capitalization has not been in its best shape lately. Its price currently trades at roughly $0.19, representing a 20% decline on a two-week scale. 

However, the negative performance has not stopped numerous analysts from projecting optimistic predictions. The popular X user Ali Martinez recently suggested that Dogecoin (DOGE) remains on a bullish path as long as the valuation stays above the $0.17 support zone. He forecasted that the uptrend could result in an all-time high of a whopping $2.74 (which is a 1,300% increase from the current price level). 

It is important to note that despite its enhanced volatility in the past months, DOGE has been trading above the depicted mark. The last time it traded below $0.17 was in November 2024. 

Another industry participant who has weighed in lately is the X user Trader Tardigrade. Earlier this week, they assumed that Dogecoin’s Average Directional Index (ADX) indicates a potential surge ahead. The technical analysis tool is part of the Directional Movement System developed by J. Welles Wilder and measures the strength of a market trend.

The ADX doesn’t necessarily signal whether the asset’s value will go up or down, but it helps assess whether it is following a strong direction or moving within a range. It’s commonly used with other indicators to validate the strength of the movement.

Last but not least, we will touch upon DOGE’s Relative Strength Index (RSI), which also hints that the meme coin’s price may head north in the short term. Over the past several hours, the ratio has neared the bullish zone of 30, suggesting that Dogecoin might be oversold and poised for a rally. 

DOGE ETF on the Horizon?

One major factor that may act as a catalyst for the price of the token is the possible launch of a spot Dogecoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States. The list of well-known entities that have displayed their intentions to introduce such a product include Grayscale, Bitwise, Osprey Funds, and others. The US SEC has acknowledged some of the applications over the past few months. 

That type of investment vehicle will enable investors to gain exposure to DOGE without dealing with exchanges or worrying about self-custody methods. This could bring more people into the ecosystem and have a positive effect on the price in the long run. 

Various community members have recently speculated on X that the launch of a spot DOGE ETF might be incoming. According to Polymarket, the approval odds before the end of the year stand at around 66%. 

TL;DR

• Jeremie Davinci sees SHIB soaring if Shibarium’s adoption and utility issues are addressed.
• The price may also benefit from Shiba Inu’s token burning mechanism, which aims to reduce the circulating supply, alongside a potential bull run in the broader cryptocurrency market.

SHIB Can Explode if This Problem Gets Solved

Despite underperforming in the past few months, the popular meme coin remains the subject of bullish price predictions. One of those came from the well-known figure in the cryptocurrency space – Jeremie Davinci.

To the uninitiated ones, the analyst has been promoting Bitcoin (BTC) as a long-term investment and has been a vocal supporter of the cryptocurrency for many years. In a video from 2013, he advised people to purchase the asset when its price stood at a mere $1.

Earlier this week, he suggested that Shiba Inu (SHIB) could go “to the moon,” but this progress would rely heavily on Shibarium’s advancement. 

“I like Shiba Inu, as you know, and I think it will do relatively well in this cycle, but it may not go as high as you expect. I think Shiba Inu has a lot of utility now that they have Shibarium, and basically, it’s a chain that you can actually run all kinds of applications.

However, nobody is using it, and there are no applications for using your tokens on Shibarium yet. If they get that solved, Shiba Inu will go to the moon,” Davinci stated on X.

Shibarium serves as the meme coin’s layer-2 blockchain solution and is specifically designed to foster its development. It aims to reduce transaction fees, enhance scalability, and improve speed. 

During the first months of the year, the protocol made the headlines by processing multi-million transactions daily. In February, the total number of transactions on the network surpassed 900 million. Over the past several weeks, though, Shibarium substantially stalled its progress.

The decline might signal lower user activity or challenges in adoption or usage by developers and dApp creators. This, in turn, could lead to less demand for SHIB tokens and a potential downward pressure on the valuation. 

Additional Catalysts

Another factor that might positively impact the price of the self-proclaimed Dogecoin killer is the Shiba Inu burning mechanism.

Its ultimate goal is to reduce the tremendous circulating supply of the asset, and substantial burns combined with non-decreasing demand should have a positive effect on the valuation. Since adopting the program, the team and the community have sent over 410.7 trillion tokens to a dead wallet, leaving approximately 584.3 trillion in circulation (which remains quite significant).

Last but not least, SHIB’s price rally might depend on the overall condition of the cryptocurrency market. Meme coins often mimic the ongoing trend in the sector, meaning they could head north in the event of a renewed bull run for BTC and the leading altcoins. 

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced sanctions against Behrouz Parsarad for running Nemesis, a darknet marketplace that sold illegal drugs.

As part of these actions, OFAC has also blacklisted 49 crypto addresses, including 44 for Bitcoin and 5 for Monero, connected to the operation.

Founder Accused of Laundering Millions

“As the administrator of the Nemesis darknet marketplace, Parsarad sought to build—and continues to try to re-establish—a safe haven to facilitate the production, sale, and shipment of illegal narcotics like fentanyl and other synthetic opioids,” said Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith.

According to a press release, the Iranian national created and controlled Nemesis, managing its crypto wallets and collecting fees from every transaction. Authorities estimate he made millions of dollars from these fees. He also helped criminals launder money by moving the digital assets of drug traffickers and cybercriminals using the platform.

Launched in 2021, Nemesis was a hub for illegal activity on the darknet. Before authorities dismantled it in 2024, drug dealers and computer criminals used the platform to trade illegal substances, such as fentanyl, obtain fake identification documents, and acquire hacking services. The site was also designed with mechanisms to hide financial transactions, facilitating money laundering.

At its peak, Nemesis had over 30,000 active users and 1,000 vendors. For three years, the platform enabled the sale of drugs worth nearly $30 million worldwide, including transactions affecting the United States.

Nemesis’ Takedown

On March 20, 2024, a coordinated law enforcement effort by the United States, Germany, and Lithuania led to the seizure of the site’s servers. As part of the operation, authorities confiscated about $102,000 in crypto assets connected to it.

Following the shutdown, Parsarad has reportedly been discussing with former vendors the creation of a new illegal site to replace Nemesis.

The U.S. Treasury has cracked down on several similar operations, such as Genesis Market in April 2023 and Hydra in April 2022. However, darknet marketplaces continue to thrive. According to TRM Labs’ 2025 Crypto Crime Report, these platforms made over $1.7 billion in revenue in 2024, slightly more than the previous year.

The report also found that Russian-language initiatives dominated the industry, making up over 97% of drug sales using mainly Bitcoin and Tron’s TRX. This was an increase of more than 1% from 2023, showing their continued growth in the illegal online economy.