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Digital currencies began in 2008 with the invention of bitcoin — money that could be created, traded and tracked on the internet.
Since then, cryptocurrencies have multiplied. Some have been designed to beat bitcoin in ease of use, cost and speed. Others serve as tokens for new versions of the blockchain, a method of secure online tracking and bookkeeping that makes cryptocurrency possible.
Other new crypto coins were created just for fun. Shiba inu is that kind of coin.
Furry Finance: How Shiba Inu Was Created
Named for an adorable Japanese canine, the shiba inu cryptocurrency was born as a mockery of dogecoin, which was designed as an imitation of bitcoin. When entrepreneur Elon Musk used Twitter to promote dogecoin, its value skyrocketed.
Then an anonymous individual or group going by the name Ryoshi arrived in August 2020 with Shiba Inu, a. k. a., the “dogecoin killer.”
Both dogecoin and shiba inu are “meme coins” designed to represent hot trends or ideas more than for utility. Shiba inu followed dogecoin into the spotlight in late 2021, when Musk tweeted out a few pictures of Floki, his real shiba inu. With nearly 70 million followers, Musk’s tweets made heavy waves in the financial and cryptocurrency markets.
Shiba Inu Begins Spreading Like Wildfire
Cryptocurrency is measured by total market value and price. These metrics can and do swing wildly from day to day, depending on the fleeting enthusiasm of traders. Nothing backs cryptocurrency except its prospective value as a store of value or medium of exchange.
Since such value depends on marketing and technical innovation, and new digital money is constantly being created, dabbling investors are taking on significant risk.
A Good Year in 2021
The numbers climbed steadily for shiba inu through 2021. The metrics peaked in October of that year when the price of a shiba inu coin reached $0.0000845 — a rise of 1,000% over the previous 25 days. For the year, the coin jumped an unbelievable 43.8 million percent.
For a brief period, shiba inu had a larger market valuation than dogecoin and had reached the top 10 of all cryptocurrencies in total market capitalization.
New Use Cases
Traders successfully petitioned for Robinhood, a popular mobile trading platform, to make the coin available to buyers and sellers, and it’s available on Kraken, as well.
Also, a series of 10,000 Shiboshis — graphic designs representing the now-famous breed — came on the market. These non-fungible tokens are further spreading the coin’s popularity. But to be successful for investors, a coin has to be more than a novelty.
Use cases for the SHIB coin are slowly popping up. For example, Shopping.io supports it, so holders can, in a somewhat roundabout way, use the coin to make purchases from Amazon, eBay and Walmart. Newegg began accepting shiba inu before the holidays last year. In addition, SHIB is now the native token for the new Shiba metaverse, where users can use the coins to mint land.
That metaverse might be expanding. Shiba inu has partnered with The Third Floor, a visualization company that collaborates with Marvel, to create environments and landmarks in the Shiba metaverse, FXStreet reported. Time will tell whether shiba inu projects — especially its metaverse — will pan out.
Going to the Dogs
Shiba inu has fallen off the highs it made in October 2021 to $0.00001429 on August 18 — a nearly 84% drop. If the hype surrounding the coin fades, the coin may never return to those levels. The general decline in the market for cryptocurrency, including leading coins bitcoin and ethereum, are also chilling the price for SHIB.
Predictions
Does shiba inu have a future? Several websites in the business predicting cryptocurrency prices are optimistic.
Coin Price Forecast believes SHIB could increase 43% by the end of 2022. Coin Gape predicted a target of $0.00008368 for this year, a 486% increase over its current price. Wallet Investor’s average prediction is that SHIB will increase just over 4% from its current price to $0.0000149 by the end of the year. Gov Capital predicts it’ll reach $0.00006139 within one year, a 309% increase.
Short significant use cases, shiba inu’s primary value is in its level of hype. That leaves analysts scrambling to predict what investor sentiment might be down the road — a notoriously difficult task.
Trader, Take Heed: Should You Invest?
These predictions forecast a hefty return this year and over the next several years. On paper, that kind of return certainly outruns anything possibly offered by stocks, bonds or just about any other kind of investment.
But cryptocurrency, and meme currency in particular, is subject to financially destructive trends for unwary investors. Even aside from their highly speculative nature, there are fees and costs charged when trading digital currencies, and many investors have ended up with nothing.
It’s fun to predict markets and fascinating to consider the possibilities of digital currency — especially one so inexpensive that you can buy nearly half a million coins for $5. But the wise move would be to thoroughly research shiba inu before throwing any money at it and never invest what you can’t afford to lose.
Good To Know
There are several alternatives to shiba inu that have yet to find widespread hype and may reward patient investors. Samoyedcoin is another dog meme token, designed for use on the Solana payments network. Monacoin, named for a cat character famous in Japan, has gained limited use cases since its invention in 2014.
Daria Uhlig and John Csiszar contributed to the reporting for this article.
Information is accurate as of Aug. 18, 2022.
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