What is Shiba Inu(SHIB)?The Latest Premier Guide 2024
What is Shiba Inu (SHIB)?
Shiba Inu is an Ethereum-based altcoin (cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin) with the Shiba Inu (a Japanese hunting dog) as its mascot. Shiba Inu is widely regarded as an alternative to Dogecoin; in fact, supporters of Shiba Inu tout it as the “Dogecoin killer.”
Shiba Inu and Dogecoin are meme coins, cryptocurrencies related to a certain theme (such as the Shiba Inu in both Shiba Inu and Dogecoin) but often launched as imitations or inside jokes rather than as digital products with genuine utility. Dogecoin was launched in December 2013, while Shiba Inu was created by an anonymous individual or group known as Ryoshi in August 2020.
Key Points
- Shiba Inu is an Ethereum-based altcoin with the Shiba Inu hunting dog as its mascot.
- It is widely considered an alternative to Dogecoin and touted by its supporters (self-dubbed the SHIBArmy community) as the “Dogecoin killer.”
- Shiba Inu was created by an individual or group named Ryoshi in August 2020.
- Shiba Inu’s price peaked in October 2021, over tenfold, reaching a market cap of $41 billion. Even after a sharp decline to a market cap of $5.97 billion (as of December 8, 2023), Shiba Inu still ranks among the top ten of all meme cryptocurrencies by this measure, second only to Dogecoin.
History of Shiba Inu (SHIB)
The guiding principles of the Shiba Inu ecosystem are detailed in the “woof paper” (a play on the term “white paper”) available on the ShibaToken.com website.
According to the paper, Shiba Inu’s development was aimed at answering a simple question: “What would happen if a cryptocurrency project was 100% run by its community?” Its founder, Ryoshi, attributes its origin to an “experiment in decentralized spontaneous community building.” Ryoshi believed that the power of collective decentralization could create something stronger than a centralized team.
The SHIBArmy boasts nearly 500,000 members on Reddit, adhering to its founding principle that:
- The project started from zero, with no initial supply, embodying the spirit of creation from nothing
- It was not created by an existing community or a pre-assembled team
- Openly expresses adoration for the Shiba Inu
Since Shiba Inu is an Ethereum-based ERC-20 token, it is created and hosted on the Ethereum blockchain (rather than its own blockchain). Ryoshi stated in the paper that he chose to build the Shiba Inu ecosystem on Ethereum because it was already secure and established, allowing the project to remain decentralized.
Blockchain Update
In January 2023, the Shiba Inu community leadership launched Shibarium, a second-layer blockchain meant to operate atop Ethereum. It aims to reduce congestion, introduce staking into its ecosystem, lower gas fees, and provide a framework for decentralized applications and Web 3 expansion.
Shiba Inu Ecosystem
The Shiba Inu ecosystem consists of the following three tokens, with one more token to be “soon” added (as of December 8, 2023):
- Shiba Inu (SHIB): This is the project’s foundational currency. Starting from an approximate supply of 1 quadrillion (equivalent to 1,000 trillion), Ryoshi locked 50% in Uniswap (for liquidity purposes) and then sent another 50% to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin for safekeeping. In May 2021, when India was grappling with the coronavirus Delta variant, Buterin donated over 50 trillion Shiba Inu coins, worth over $1 billion, to a COVID-19 relief fund in India. Shortly thereafter, Buterin also “burned” 40% of the total Shiba Inu supply, permanently removing it from circulation by sending it to a “dead wallet.”
- Leash (LEASH): The second token in the Shiba Inu ecosystem, Leash represents the other end of the ecosystem with a total supply of only 107,646 tokens compared to the trillions of Shiba Inu tokens. Leash is used to reward the welfare of supporters within the ecosystem.
- Bone (BONE): Bone’s circulating supply is in between the other two tokens, with a total supply of 250,000,000 tokens. It was initially designed as a governance token that will be used to reward validators who stake (bury) their Bone in Shibarium and to give voting rights to delegators of validators.
- Treat (TREAT): As of December 8, 2023, the use remains unknown.
Other platforms and ideas related to Shiba Inu interact with the ecosystem:
- ShibaSwap: The DeFi platform ShibaSwap aims to provide a secure place to trade cryptocurrencies while maintaining decentralization. SHIB and LEASH are best bought and sold through ShibaSwap.
- Shiba Incubator: The incubator aims to shift focus beyond popular art forms like painting, photography, and digital rendering, and explore ways to honor creativity and originality.
- Shiboshis: Shiboshis are 10,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) generated by Shiba Inu written on the Ethereum blockchain, with different traits that make each Shiboshi unique and collectible.
SHIB’s Canine Terminology
To stay consistent with the dog theme, the aforementioned woof paper employs canine terminology to describe how returns can be generated from one’s Shiba Inu tokens. On ShibaSwap, these tokens can be used to “dig” (provide liquidity), “bury” (stake tokens), and even “fetch” (exchange one token for another). According to the woof paper, the tokens used in these strategies generate “Woof” returns in the form of Bone tokens, which are allocated to token pools known as “Puppy Pools.”
For cryptocurrency enthusiasts, part of the appeal of meme coins is their refusal of conventional protocols, and this unconventional approach might extend to using canine terminology to describe return strategies. However, they are clearly a far cry from stable investment terms like ROI and liquidity.
How to Acquire SHIB
You can purchase SHIB using wallets on multiple exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, KuCoin, and Kraken, among others. You can also set up a MetaMask wallet and connect it to Shiba Swap, the exchange recommended (and created) by the Shiba Inu community.
Concerns About Shiba Inu
Investing in cryptocurrencies carries a high risk due to their immense volatility and lack of regulation. Investing in the altcoin/meme coin space presents additional challenges due to a lack of differentiation, and much of their value is based on the trading of their followers. Here are some investment considerations for potential investors in Shiba Inu.
Low Price Per Token
Even after some impressive gains, Shiba Inu (SHIB) costs only a fraction of a cent, allowing people to buy millions of SHIB tokens for a few hundred dollars. At its peak price of $0.00002271, $100 could buy over 4.4 million SHIB tokens. A sharp drop in SHIB’s price could lead to significant losses, but there’s also the opportunity for substantial gains.
Limited Utility and Use Cases
Despite what its followers might argue, based on Shiba Inu’s NFTs now being available and its Ethereum foundation and new Layer 2 blockchain supposedly improving transaction speeds and scalability, as of December 7, 2023, Shiba Inu’s utility is very limited, and as of the end of 2023, aside from enabling non-fungible tokens, it’s an eye-catching use case.
How Much is One Shiba Inu Worth?
As of March 4, 2024, one SHIB is valued at approximately $0.00002271. As of that date, the token has never reached a value of more than $0.00008190.
Is Shiba Inu a Good Investment?
Whether SHIB is a good investment depends on your investment goals, risk tolerance, strategy, personal preferences, and outlook.
Which Cryptocurrency Will Boom in 2024?
It’s difficult to predict which cryptocurrency, if any, will experience a boom. This space is constantly changing and reacts almost explosively to news.
Bottom Line
Shiba Inu is a cryptocurrency that, when created in 2021, had no use or value. By the end of 2023, it was being heavily traded to take advantage of micro price movements and as a means of payment. Shiba Inu is continually being developed and improved by a dedicated community to have utility and use cases, making it likely to remain one of the more popular cryptocurrencies on the market.
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