What is Shiba?
Shiba Inu, also known as SHIB, is an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency created in 2020. It is one of many types of altcoins, which are essentially cryptocurrencies that are not Bitcoin.
Shiba Inu is also an example of a “meme coin,” which means it has a theme.
Its mascot is a Shiba Inu, which is a breed of Japanese hunting dog. Meme coins are sometimes created as a parody or joke.
Shiba Inu is sometimes confused with another meme coin called Dogecoin, which also features the same breed of dog as its mascot.
Shiba Inu was created by an anonymous person or group of people dubbed Ryoshi. The white paper used to lay out the tenants of Shiba Inu (in this case known as a “woof paper”) says the cryptocurrency is an “experiment in decentralized spontaneous community building.”
Shiba Inu is an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain. The cryptocurrency initially had a supply of one quadrillion tokens until May 2021, when the founder locked half the supply in Uniswap and the other sent half to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in what was widely perceived to be a publicity stunt. Buterin donated 10 per cent of the tokens and destroyed the rest, removing them from circulation. Shiba Inu now has a circulating supply of 549 trillion tokens.
The Shiba Inu system frequently uses dog-related terminology to reflect canine theme. For example, token pools are called “puppy pools” and when tokens are staked it’s called “burying.”
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What is the value of Shiba Inu tokens?
Shiba Inu’s value has been defined by episodes of extreme volatility.
In August 2020, Shiba Inu was worth about $0.00000000051. The price skyrocketed in October 2021 to a peak price of $0.00007482. Shiba Inu saw a peak market capitalization of $41 billion, making it one of the top ten cryptocurrencies by this measure.
Following that, Shiba Inu experienced a significant downtown with its value plunging more than 75 per cent.
Support from Tesla-founder Elon Musk has been instrumental in driving the value of Shiba Inu. When Musk tweeted about his new Shiba Inu dog in October 2021, it provided a major boost to the SHIB token. At its peak price of $0.00007482 In October 2021, you could buy 1.5 million SHIB tokens for about $100.
Shiba Inu still costs a fraction of a cent to buy.Many traders view Shiba Inu as a sort of crypto lottery ticket, because they can afford to buy 1,000,000 of the tokens for $50. Similar to penny stocks, traders believe that if the price rose to one cent, it would be a big win — although experts say the odds of that happening are slim. Shiba Inu is generally considered to be a risky and speculative investment.
What is the connection between Shiba Inu and Dogecoin?
Shiba Inu is often referred to as the “Dogecoin Killer” and is widely viewed as an alternative to Dogecoin – as well as its biggest competition.
Shiba Inu, along with Floki Inu, Doge Dash, and Dogelon Mars, all use the same dog-themed branding as Dogecoin, but Shiba Inu is the only one to pose a threat to Dogecoin.
Tweets from Elon Musk have served to heighten the competition between the two cryptocurrencies — Musk is a high-profile supporter of Dogecoin and has even referred to himself as the “Dogefather,” but has also shown his support for Shiba Inu via tweets. These cryptic and contradictory messages have contributed to volatility in the meme coin space.
How does Shiba Inu work?
Shiba Inu is overseen by its community under the ideology of a truly decentralized system with no control by central authorities.
Shiba Inu runs on Ethereum, which uses a proof-of-work consensus mechanism and is in the process of shifting to a proof-of -stake mechanism.
The Shiba Inu ecosystem consists of three tokens: Shiba Inu (SHIB), Leash (LEASH), and Bone (BONE). The SHIB token is the most prominent of the three.
LEASH has a total supply of 107,646 tokens — significantly less than the trillions of SHIB tokens — while BONE has a supply of 250,000,000 tokens.
In July 2021 Shiba Inu started its own decentralized cryptocurrency exchange called ShibaSwap. This was designed to introduce SHIB staking, allowing holders to stake SHIB in return for staking rewards paid out in the platform’s BONE token.
The ecosystem also includes the Shiba Inu Incubator, which provides support to artists who want to create non-fungible token work, as well as “Shiboshis” which are unique, collectible non-fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.Shiba Inu has also partnered with David Folk to create a cryptocurrency gaming venture.
Despite these advances and new developments, Shiba Inu has limited utility.
Conclusion
Shiba Inu is an altcoin as well as a type of meme coin, it works on the Ethereum blockchain and was created as a sort of community-building experiment.
It is a competitor to meme coin Dogecoin and is often called the Dogecoin Killer — although whether it will succeed in killing off Dogecoin remains to be seen.
Shiba Inu tokens trade for fractions of a cent with the value largely influenced by social media. Many investors view Shiba Inu as an investment vehicle, they buy and hold the token waiting for it to outpace competitor Dogecoin.
Experts widely consider Shiba Inu to be a risky investment that is largely based on speculation.
However, the platform’s new ventures like an artist incubator and NFTs, could create interesting future possibilities.
