Deciding between a major cryptocurrency like Ethereum (ETH 5.15%) and a meme coin like Shiba Inu (SHIB 5.97%) should be an easy choice for most investors. But, for whatever reason, the temptation of going for the higher-risk play lives eternal, and with it, the chance of allocating your capital inefficiently.

So which of these two tokens is a better place to invest $2,000 and why? Let's hash it out by looking at the most likely scenarios for each.

This coin is looking a bit sleepy

It hasn't been an easy time to hold Ethereum, even though it's one of the largest and most serious cryptocurrency chains out there, with a market cap of about $400 billion. Its price was little changed during the past six months, and the chain is undergoing a shakeup of its senior leadership to focus more on technical capabilities as well as expanding its project ecosystem.

The chain's long-standing challenges, like high gas (user) fees, slow transaction times, and the need for a fairly technical background to do much of anything with its smart contracts and other features, remain almost as difficult as they have ever been. That means those long-standing headwinds to adoption are still blustering. During the next couple of years, however, the new management team could potentially make some headway on these issues.

At the same time, the crypto has a few potential tailwinds. With the recent approval of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) holding Ethereum alone, as well as ETFs with Ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies, the chain is exposed to inflows of new capital from the traditional financial sector, which could be a driver for higher prices in the long term. What's more, with the new Trump administration likely to take a pro-cryptocurrency stance, the Securities and Exchange Commission may adopt favorable policies for the chain's growth.

So, while Ethereum isn't exactly ascendant right now, it's far from failing, and there's ample reason to be optimistic about its price rising during the coming years.

Even when one coin is limping, there's no contest here

Up 75% during the past 12 months, Shiba Inu is a meme coin that's making real money for some of its investors. There's no way that trend will ever change, right, so it's obviously a better purchase than Ethereum?

Don't be so sure, because the percentage gain figure doesn't tell much of the story here. If you bought Shiba Inu in early March 2024, right when its price was surging, you'd have lost more than half of your money within five months. If you are like most investors, you would have then sold your tokens at a loss, thereby missing the coin's recovery to its current price level -- where you'd still be deeply underwater. Worse, once again if you are like most investors, you'd be tempted to buy back in when the price starts to surge in the near future, only to see the value fall out from under it once again, in all probability.

More important than its short-term price action, the most difficult thing about investing in Shiba Inu is that there isn't really an investment thesis for why the coin should go up (or down) over time. While it's true that it's correlated to the price of Ethereum, that isn't a reason to buy Shiba Inu in and of itself, as many other assets share similar correlations, especially if they're coins hosted on Ethereum's network, as Shiba Inu is.

It's hard to imagine why someone would invest in this coin, except in hopes that it someday goes to the moon. But without a real catalyst in store that's specific to the coin and not cryptocurrency as a whole, there simply isn't much reason to invest in this crypto, except out of a misplaced fear of missing out (FOMO).

Turn this story on its head. Rather than being afraid of missing out on big gains with Shiba Inu, be afraid of taking on the significant risks that it entails as a meme coin. Within that framework, Ethereum is (again) obviously the better place to invest $2,000, as there's a vastly lower chance of ending up with $1,000 or less just a few months after your purchase.