Whether you are interested in understanding more about Shiba Inu, considering investing in SHIB, or simply wondering, “what’s a Shiba Inu?” This article will explore everything you need to know about Shiba Inu’s vibrant ecosystem, community-driven nature and various project offerings.
Shiba Inu Price
As of March 2024, Shiba Inu trades at around $0.000009 per unit. The Shiba Inu price today is down by over 22% compared to its March 2023 price. Interestingly, the late 2023 resurgence in the broader crypto market did not have a positive impact on the price of SHIB, as it did other cryptocurrencies, perhaps indicating low demand for SHIB.
Factors Influencing Shiba Inu’s Price
- Market Sentiment: SHIB’s price often reacts to investors’ sentiment influenced by news, social media and overall market conditions. Therefore, positive sentiments translate to price increases and vice-versa.
- Cryptocurrency Market Trends: The general market trend is also a huge determinant of SHIB’s price movement. In a generally bullish market, the price tends to move upward, while it moves downward in a bearish market.
- Adoption and Utility: With increased adoption comes upward price movements. The same goes for utility, as utility drives demand, and consequently a price increase.
- Partnerships and Collaborations: Collaborations help shine a spotlight on projects and draw new users and investors to the ecosystem.
- Project Updates and Roadmap: Updates about project development can boost investor confidence and thereby cause a price increase.
- Whale Activity: Whales (large holders) can cause significant price movements by a single transaction. If a whale sells off their holdings, it will cause a price dump, and if a whale buys a large amount of SHIB, the price will likely increase.
What Is Shiba Inu?
So, what is SHIB? Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a community-driven altcoin built on the Ethereum platform in 2020. It adopts a deflationary model, burning tokens with each transaction to create scarcity in supply. Inspired by Dogecoin (DOGE), SHIB was launched as a light-hearted meme coin, exploring community control over a cryptocurrency.
Meme coins are cryptocurrencies that are created in relation to personalities, trends or viral moments that gain popularity from social media memes. Meme coins typically gain value through notoriety and are often launched as a community-led inside joke, as opposed to a serious digital product with utility. While Shiba Inu features a comical depiction of the Japanese hunting dog as its mascot, it is more than simply a humorous project.
Community and Ecosystem
As a community-driven ecosystem, Shiba Inu relies on user involvement for growth. Governed by decentralized decision-making, its community, which as of January 2024 consists of 145,922 Discord members, 143,165 Telegram subscribers and 3.7 million Twitter followers, actively determines the project’s future.
This democratic approach, in which all token holders have a right to vote on decisions that shape the project’s direction and provide feedback, fosters democracy. The community members are also the main proponents of Shiba Inu’s marketing and promotion in order to attract new participants to the ecosystem.
Use cases and applications of Shiba Inu
Shiba Inu offers diverse range features and products within its ecosystem, including:
- ShibaSwap: A decentralized crypto exchange.
- Shibarium: A layer 2 EVM network built to address scalability and high transaction cost issues on the Ethereum blockchain.
- Shiboshis and Shibacals: A collection of 10,000 Shiba Inu-generated non-fungible tokens (NFTs) (Shiboshis) and linked real-world collectibles (Shibacals).
- Shib the Metaverse: A hub of entertainment, business and gaming, featuring 100,595 plots of land.
Shiba Inu has grown beyond its origin as a meme coin over time, evolving to offer a range of practical applications:
- Medium of Exchange: SHIB can be used as a medium of exchange for transactions and purchases.
- Staking on ShibaSwap: Holders can stake tokens to earn reward tokens.
- Governance Participation: Holding SHIB grants participation in project decision-making.
- Community Engagement and Philanthropy: Involved in charitable events funded by SHIB, such as the Shiba Inu Rescue Association’s dog rescue campaigns.
How Does Shiba Inu Work?
The operational framework of Shiba Inu is unique, and investors should understand how Shiba Inu works.
Blockchain
Shiba Inu is built on the Ethereum blockchain, utilizing smart contracts for various functionalities such as token transfers, staking and interactions within ShibaSwap. In this way, Shiba Inu’s underlying technology enables the development, expansion and security of the ecosystem.
Consensus mechanism
Ethereum employs the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, in which network validators verify new data blocks. These validators must create, verify and vote on the validity of transaction blocks for an Ethereum transaction to be successful.
Tokenomics
The community uses dog-related terminology, relating to its name, for behaviors and activities within the network. For instance, tokens can be used to ‘dig’ (provide liquidity), ‘bury’ (stake tokens) and ‘fetch’ (exchange).
The Shiba Inu ecosystem consists of three tokens:
- Shiba Inu (SHIB): Shiba Inu’s native currency. It is the foundation of the project and complies with the standard of all Ethereum-based tokens to ensure compatibility within the Ethereum ecosystem.
- Leash (LEASH): Leash is a reward token for the ecosystem’s community members, and is earned through diverse methods of participation in the network.
- Bone (BONE): Originally designed as the ecosystem’s governance token, and earned from staking, Bone is now used in Shibarium to reward both validators who stake (‘bury’) their tokens and delegators who provide validators with voting rights.
Who Created Shiba Inu?
Shiba Inu was created in August 2020 by a pseudonymous individual or group known as ‘Ryoshi’. It did not have a clear roadmap to begin with, driven instead by the potential thoughts and ideas of its community. The Reddit community known as the ‘SHIBArmy’ embraces the guiding principles of creating something from nothing, and a love of Shiba Inu dogs.
Shiba Inu History
Launched in August 2020 by the anonymous Ryoshi, Shiba Inu has set its sights early on challenging Dogecoin by branding itself as the “Dogecoin killer.” From August 2020 onwards, believers of the project ended up creating a large network of developers, producers, meme creators, designers, mods, marketers, admins, social media influencers, and hodlers. Over time, Shiba Inu expanded its influence until the token’s value was difficult to ignore.
On May 13, Vitalik Buterin, who was entrusted with a large wallet of these tokens, with which he promptly donated 50 trillion SHIB (worth over USD 1 billion when it was executed) to a crypto relief fund in India. This “burning” event was lauded by the Shiba Inu developers as a great move, justifying their decision to give the keys to Buterin.
Later in the year, an anonymous whale purchased 6.2 trillion SHIB, or SHIB with the equivalent value of USD 44 million, the price ballooned by 55%. What may have also spurred this jump was the fact that a partner at a hedge fund circulated the whispers of a new project brewing in the SHIB ecosystem. This project, which was rumored to be an exchange, became the talk of the community as well as those looking at the growth of the Shiba Inu Token.
As a result, Shibaswap was born, functioning as a decentralized exchange for DIG (liquidity), BURY (staking), and SWAP tokens, generating WOOF returns in a passive income system. A non-fungible token (NFT) drop of unique Shiboshi collectibles has also been issued. Rather than the project staying as a cryptocurrency like its counterpart DOGE, the SHIB token has expanded to several kinds of decentralized projects, making bullish investors have more reasons as to why they believe that it’s the superior shibe on the block.
Shiba Inu Team
As a community-based token, Shiba Inu Token is run by the so-called Shib Army, a group of SHIB enthusiasts who believe in crypto and want to push the extent of its price and influence. Since the contributors cause the coin to grow, what it becomes is dictated by its stakeholders. SHIB’s anonymous developers have all worked together to create an ecosystem that has given rise to a token, related NFTs, decentralized exchange, and who knows what other projects are currently in the works. As far as the general community is aware, the developers are a multi-faceted bunch capable of generating endless ideas for projects.
Shiba Inu Market Performance
Considering SHIB’s market performance as of January 2024, SHIB is the 18th-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with a figure of around $5.31bn. As a mid-cap cryptocurrency, SHIB is generally considered to be less risky than small-cap alternatives, but with more upside potential than large-cap coins, such as DOGE.
How to Buy and Store Shiba Inu
You can buy Shiba Inu on almost all cryptocurrency exchanges (centralized and decentralized), based on your preference.
Centralized Exchanges
Buying on a centralized exchange is pretty straightforward:
- Download the exchange’s mobile app or open the website.
- Create and fund an account.
- Find the SHIB/USDT trading pair or any SHIB pair of your choice.
- Buy SHIB.
There are many exchanges upon which it is possible to purchase SHIB, including Binance, Kucoin, MEXC, Gate.io, Bybit, Bitget and OKX.
Decentralized Exchanges
Investors should also consider how to buy SHIB from a decentralized exchange. ShibaSwap is Shiba Inu’s native decentralized exchange, but SHIB is available on many others, such as Uniswap, VVS Finance, Butter.xyz and ZigZag.
- Download a wallet app such as MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Coinbase or Argent, or use the web version.
- Create and fund your wallet.
- Choose an exchange to buy from, and then open the exchange’s website in your wallet’s browser.
- Select the coin you have in your wallet, and choose to swap it for SHIB.
- Wait for the transaction to go through. Your SHIB will now be in your wallet.
Safe wallet storage
After buying your SHIB, it is time to store it safely. The best way to store your coin for a long period of time is in a hardware wallet. Hardware wallets, known as cold wallets, are not connected to the internet and are considered the most safe and secure wallet. A hot wallet offers faster and easier access for active traders.
The Future of Shiba Inu
In early 2024, Shiba Inu’s development team revealed the vision for the ecosystem’s future development. As outlined in a tweet, Shiba Inu is pivoting towards digital identity innovation. In partnership with the Web3 startup D3 Global, SHIBDentity plans to introduce a .SHIB top-level domain name for every community member, for use across various platforms, including email, online retail and Dapps.
Risks and Challenges
As with any cryptocurrency, it is important to consider the potential risks and challenges associated with investing in Shiba Inu:
- Extreme Price Volatility: SHIB’s price is extremely volatile and has recorded price swings both up 300% and down 99%. The low price per token is a concern for many, as even throughout periods of impressive price growth, SHIB’s price has never reached $1. Investors can purchase millions of SHIB tokens with just a small amount of capital, meaning that at scale, losses could be extremely large.
- Limited Utility: While the Shiba Inu ecosystem is diverse, SHIB has limited utility outside of this community and lacks real-world applications.
- Ethereum Dependency and Security Risks: Shiba Inu’s reliance on Ethereum exposes it to potential risks inherited from the platform, including bugs or attacks.
- Regulatory and Legal Aspects of Shiba Inu: The legal and regulatory environment surrounding cryptocurrencies is constantly evolving, and jurisdiction between different countries varies. Unfavorable regulatory changes could negatively impact the price of SHIB.
Comparing Shiba Inu to Other Cryptocurrencies
Comparative analysis can help investors make well-informed decisions about their portfolios. Below, we consider how Shiba Inu compares to other community-driven meme coins, including Dogecoin and Bonk.
Shiba Inu vs Dogecoin (DOGE)
Dogecoin relies on its community for popularity, with Elon Musk’s influence contributing to its draw. Low transaction fees and infinite circulation are also unique features that can appeal. Dogecoin has a larger market capitalization than Shiba Inu as of January 2024 ($11bn compared to $5bn, respectively). This, combined with a higher token value, emphasizes DOGE’s current dominance in the market.
Shiba Inu features a deflationary model, with each transaction burning tokens, creating scarcity in supply. The Shiba Inu ecosystem is highly innovative, with a dedicated and engaged community of users regularly developing new products.
Despite lesser market maturity, Shiba Inu rivals Dogecoin as a popular meme coin, with some in the community referring to it as ‘the Dogecoin killer’.
Shiba Inu vs Bonk (BONK)
Bonk, on Solana, emerged from a stealthy airdrop and integrated into Solana Dapps, with products such as BonkBot having thousands of active users and generous airdrops.
Both Bonk and Shiba are major meme coins, but SHIB has a more substantial market cap than Bonk’s $662m figure, and a more established position in the crypto market. Shiba Inu has its own blockchain, Shibarium, which has the potential to elevate the entire Shiba Inu ecosystem. Bonk’s value is more tied to Solana’s performance, and it has faced criticism for limited utility and product offering.
BONK is a small-cap coin, so it perhaps has more untapped potential for a substantial price increase. However, being relatively new, BONK lacks the maturity and credibility associated with SHIB’s longer history, potentially impacting its long-term appeal.
FAQs
How much is 1 Shiba Inu to buy?
As of January 2024, a unit of Shiba Inu costs around $0.000009. Investors can pick up considerable amounts of SHIB for a very small amount of capital.
Is Shiba Inu actually safe?
The safety of your SHIB depends on how you store it. Refer to the ‘How to Buy and Store Shiba Inu’ section above to find out the best way to keep your SHIB safe.
How does the burning mechanism work for Shiba Inu tokens?
Shiba Inu employs a burning mechanism, where some SHIB tokens are permanently removed from circulation to increase scarcity.