A concise background of its inception
Shiba Inu (SHIB) emerges as a token nested within the Ethereum blockchain, witnessing a surge in popularity this year. Its appeal stems from a unique ecosystem and a thematic focus on dogs, attracting attention from both retail investors and the coin’s community. Notably, Shib’s official Twitter account boasts over 1.2 million followers, surpassing prominent entities like Cardano (ADA), Kraken, and Solana (SOL).
For further insights on blockchain tokens like Solana, explore our article on What is Solana ($SOL)?
The digital asset took its cue from the Japanese dog breed of the same name, igniting a viral meme trend back in 2013. This trend, in turn, served as the catalyst for the birth of another well-known cryptocurrency, Dogecoin (DOGE).
Shiba Inu, alongside Dogecoin and numerous other meme-based or pet-inspired cryptoassets like Baby Doge coin and Dogelon Mars coin, have gained recognition under the label of «meme coins.»
What’s interesting about SHIB?
Usually, meme coins provide minimal value to holders compared to established cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, with Shiba Inu, the development team seems to be striving to offer more value to SHIB holders. For instance, on July 21, the developers introduced a decentralized exchange.
With a desire to provide users with more utility, the self-proclaimed «DOGE killer» has risen to become the second most popular meme coin on the market. Despite Dogecoin’s market capitalization being three times that of Shiba Inu as of the end of October 21, this outsider project has successfully cultivated a large community in less than two years since its inception.
During the official launch in August 2020, a total of 1 quadrillion SHIB tokens were minted. To put this into perspective, a quadrillion is a number followed by 15 zeros.
Who created the SHIB coin?
Shiba Inu was introduced in August 2020 as a direct competitor to Dogecoin. The official creator of the coin is an anonymous individual who identified themselves as «RYOSHI.» However, it’s worth noting that the actual creator of Shiba Inu, as mentioned by RYOSHI, is an anonymous figure referred to as his «unknown friend.» This friend, later described as «a very influential person in the crypto industry,» was encountered by RYOSHI at the Ethereum DevCon conference in Japan in 2019.
According to Rayoshi, SHIB has the potential to surpass Dogecoin’s value by a significant margin without reaching the $0.01 mark. Currently, SHIB is trading at $0.00003798, still considerably below $0.01. However, its market capitalization has already reached one-third of Dogecoin’s market capitalization.
Three rules when creating SHIB:
In August 20, Rayoshi penned an article on his website RYOSHI RESEARCH, referring to the coin as a bold experiment in developing a decentralized currency.
And outlined three rules for creating Shiba Inu, which inherently make it a unique coin:
- Spend 0 dollars on the project: The creator allocated no funds to the project, obtaining his initial SHIB coins like everyone else after the official launch on the market.
- Invest in the promotion of 0 Shiba Inu: There were no investments made in promoting Shiba Inu.
Mysterious Person
The «very influential person» furnished Rayoshi with 10 ETH to offer liquidity to the ETH-SHIB trading pair on the Uniswap decentralized exchange. Rayoshi noted on his blog that 10 ETH was a trivial amount for this «mysterious stranger,» given his substantial success as a businessman. Consequently, he facilitated the trading of yet another Dog Coin on Ethereum via the Uniswap exchange.
Theory of Vitalik Buterin’s Involvement: There is speculation that the «mysterious person» might be Vitalik Buterin himself, supported by several key facts:
- Rayoshi allocated half of the total token supply to Vitalik Buterin, with the other half sent to the decentralized exchange Uniswap for trading.
- Vitalik Buterin proceeded to lock his share of tokens. According to the project’s official document, referred to by the community as the WoofPaper, the objective was to transfer ownership of 500 trillion SHIBs (valued at $1.2 billion at the time) to Buterin, with the hope that he would permanently lock them.
An interesting observation is that the SHIB white paper was revised subsequent to the coin’s donations to Buterin. However, the developers emphasized that these donations were beneficial for the coin, asserting that Vitalik Buterin is a «friend of SHIB.»
The photo of Vitalik Buterin circulating online, snapped right after the DevCon V event in Japan in 2019, serves as the icing on the cake. This image leads to a justifiable assumption that, alongside Rayoshi, Vitalik Buterin could be the second anonymous creator behind Shiba Inu.
The Ilon Musk Effect
Similar to DOGE, SHIB experienced a surge in popularity upon its launch, yet its price remained stagnant for approximately 8 months with minimal activity. Initially, the coin struggled to gain traction in value; however, it began to gain momentum around the period when Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other prominent figures expressed interest in Dogecoin.
Tech billionaire Musk, affectionately dubbed the «Dogefather» by a prominent Dogecoin enthusiast, has unofficially taken on the role of the project’s new CEO.
The most publicized Shiba Inu story happened in March 2021 on Ilon Musk’s Twitter. Musk published a post about his intention to buy a Shiba Inu dog, which is the symbol of Dogecoin.
Traders initially mistook it for the new Shiba Inu token, leading to a surge in purchases of the asset. Despite the clarification of the misunderstanding, the growth trajectory remained uninterrupted.
After this announcement, the price of the Shiba Inu token (SHIB) surged by 68% within an hour. Two days later, SHIB experienced an astounding 1223% increase, reaching 0.000019, just before the airing of the Saturday Night Live show featuring Musk.
How did it end?
Over the course of five days, the price of SHIB surged by more than 2,000%. Subsequently, the coin’s price plummeted along with the entire market, prompted by Musk’s announcement that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin as a form of payment.
Later, in the first week of October 2021, the coin regained some of its lost value when Musk shared a photo and the name of his new Shiba Inu puppy. Overall, from January to October, the price of SHIB surged by more than 27,000,000%.
Technical Foundation and Ecosystem
The creators of Shiba Inu established an ecosystem consisting of three coins known as SHIB, LEASH, and BONE, along with a decentralized exchange called ShibaSwap.
- Shiba Inu (SHIB): It is an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, indicating it was created and deployed on the Ethereum blockchain, rather than having its own.
- What is ShibaSwap? ShibaSwap is a decentralized exchange, akin to Uniswap, enabling users to trade SHIB and other cryptocurrencies without a middleman. Users can provide liquidity and stake tokens to earn yields using SHIB, LEASH, and BONE tokens within the ERC-20 platform existing in the Shiba ecosystem.
- Bone (BONE) on ShibaSwap: Bone serves as a governance token for the platform, with a total supply of 250 million coins.
- Doge Killer (LEASH): Initially launched as a rebase token, LEASH possesses «elastic token» features.
ShibaSwap Features
On the ShibaSwap platform, there are 6 available functions, including three native ecosystem coins:
- Dig: This is the liquidity pool function on the ShibaSwap platform. Users can deposit crypto assets into existing liquidity pools on the platform or create their own. Liquidity providers receive ShibaSwap Liquidity Pool (SSLP) tokens as rewards.
- Woof: «Woofing» involves receiving Bone rewards for staking SSLP tokens.
- Bury: Users stake their SHIB, LEASH, and BONE tokens to earn high yields paid in BONE tokens. After staking, users receive a token representing their stake amount in xSHIB, xLEASH, or xBONE.
- Swap: This function allows users to exchange assets on the ShibaSwap platform, enabling them to switch between multiple assets.
- Bonefolio: An analytical tool panel where users can study current interest rates and track their yields.
- NFT: Users can trade 10,000 unique non-fungible tokens called «Shiboshis» — pixelated cartoonish depictions of Shiba Inu dogs.
Price Analysis and Outlook
Elon Musk, his Twitter page, and a single photo of a Shiba Inu puppy posted on October 4 were enough to propel the meme-based digital currency into the top 20 cryptocurrencies globally.
In October 2021, an unidentified large buyer spent $1.2 million to purchase 49.9 billion SHIB coins, triggering another significant price surge for SHIB. Traders anticipate another surge for SHIB, as reported by FX Street.
SHIB on Robinhood:
Recently, the Shiba Inu (SHIB) community posted on Twitter about the possibility of the Robinhood app considering adding the «Dogecoin killer» coin to its list of tradable assets. @ShibalnuNews shared a screenshot of the survey sent to them via email.
Robinhood is clearly assessing its clients’ market preferences regarding cryptocurrencies, as evident from the survey. Users are asked whether they have purchased any cryptocurrency from the list in the past three months.
Included in the list are Solana, Cardano, XRP, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu. The Shiba Inu community hopes that Robinhood will soon add support for SHIB trading, potentially driving its price up to at least $0.01.
Earlier this week, HCN reported that the meme coin was added to the listing of Robinhood’s competitor, Public. Prior to this, SHIB became available on India’s oldest crypto exchange, ZebPay, and Turkey’s largest exchange, BtcTurk. Meanwhile, a petition on Change.org urging Robinhood to list Shiba Inu has garnered over 320,000 votes.
SHIB’s price surge could partly be attributed to its upcoming availability on Coin Cloud ATMs, one of the world’s largest digital currency ATM platforms.
Should You Invest in SHIB?
From January to October, SHIB’s price surged by over 27,000,000%. However, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a group overseeing financial activities, has warned potential investors about the risks associated with cryptocurrency investments due to the volatile and unstable market.
«Investing in crypto assets or related investments and lending typically involves very high risks to investors’ money,» the FCA stated. «If consumers invest in these types of products, they should be prepared to lose all their money.»
Thus, while the crypto community still watches SHIB cautiously, the token has undoubtedly evolved into something more significant and promising than just a simple meme coin. Shiba Inu boasts a community of fans as devoted and active as Dogecoin’s, yet it differs significantly in its creation story and development prospects.
The long-term roadmap was elaborately described by Rayoshi himself on his professional profile on Medium. In his article, he meticulously listed some very ambitious goals, some of which are undoubtedly intriguing to explore. The most recent and perhaps the most interesting long-term goal listed in the article is the creation of ShibaCon and an annual conference for Shiba enthusiasts.
