Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said Dogecoin DOGE/USD has a “legendary item” in its arsenal — a meme shield.

What Happened: The entrepreneur posted a meme to illustrate.

Doge meme shield (legendary item) pic.twitter.com/CeomU9q84c

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 1, 2021

DOGE prices hit their all-time high of $0.084 on Feb. 08 and have fallen 38.1% since then as the joke cryptocurrency traded 5.58% lower at $0.052 at press time.

See also: How to Buy Dogecoin (DOGE)

Since the beginning of the year, DOGE has returned 870.93%. The Shiba Inu-theme cryptocurrency has outperformed Bitcoin’s BTC/USD annual gains of 68.78%.

BTC traded 5.68% higher at $49,290.64 at press time.

Why It Matters: Even though Musk’s favorite meme-themed cryptocurrency has shot past BTC in terms of both near-term and yearly gains, the speed of its appreciation on a seven-day basis pales in front of some other cryptocurrency stars. 

See Also: Elon Musk's Dogecoin Tweets Worry Crypto Community — Situation 'Seriously Damaging'

DOGE has fallen 0.62% on a seven-day trailing basis, while Cardano ADA/USD has shot up 14.87% and Fantom FTM/USD is up 19.48% in the same period.

So-called Ethereum ETH/USD killers like Polkadot DOT/USD and Solana SOL/USD have been advancing at a record pace this year.

Scaling challenges coupled with high fees on Ethereum have buoyed the prices of such coins.

Read Next: Dogecoin Gets New Wings With Developer Upgrades: What You Need To Know

Photo by Marco Verch on Flickr