In the world of cryptocurrencies, Meme coins are a subsector of the market that centres around popular internet memes, pop-cultural references, and viral online trends. Unlike other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) — which primarily serves as a digital currency and store of value — developers often create meme coins as a form of expression or art. Meme coins also provide a socially relevant way to invite new generations of users to engage with blockchain technology and  Shiba Inu (SHIB) is no exception.

What is Shiba Inu (SHIB)?

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is an Ethereum-based meme coin, aiming to rival Dogecoin (DOGE) with its clever nod to the Shiba Inu dog breed — the dog breed pictured in the original Doge internet meme. What started off as a meme coin has since attracted an impressive developer interest. With its ecosystem housing its own Layer-2 chain, decentralised exchange, and NFT incubator, SHIB has climbed its way to the second biggest meme coin in existence.

How Does Shiba Inu (SHIB) Work?

SHIB exists as an ERC-20 token built on top of the Ethereum blockchain. As a result, Ethereum’s network of proof-of-stake (PoS) validators processes all the SHIB transactions.

What Makes Shiba Inu (SHIB) Unique?

Shiba Inu (SHIB) has several unique traits:

Anonymous creator: An anonymous developer or group named Ryoshi created and launched SHIB in August 2020.

Supply Size: The Shiba Inu’s (SHIB) total supply is one quadrillion SHIB tokens, the highest number of coins ever created in the crypto space.

50% Of Supply Locked For Liquidity: At the time of launch, Ryoshi locked 50.00% of the SHIB token supply into Uniswap liquidity pools to allow for trading to commence. The lock ensures liquidity for trading.

50% Of Supply Sent to Vitalik Buterin: The other half was transferred to Vitalik Buterin, in the hopes that it would maximise the credibility of the SHIB project. Vitalik burned 410 trillion SHIB tokens (40% of total supply) and donated the other 10% to the India Covid Crypto Relief Fund. 

Growing Ecosystem Of Products: Shiba Inu (SHIB) continues to innovate with its own layer-2 solution (Shibarium), decentralised exchange (Shibaswap), metaverse (SHIB The Metaverse) and NFT (Shiboshis) ecosystems all driving users into the Shiba Inu ecosystem.

What Is In The Shiba Inu (SHIB) Ecosystem?

The Shiba Inu (SHIB) ecosystem has expanded to include several tokens and applications beyond SHIB:

LEASH: The second token in the Shiba Inu ecosystem, LEASH was created to provide exclusive benefits to loyal community members, such as liquidity rewards, NFT minting, and metaverse sales.

BONE: Serving as the ecosystem’s governance token, BONE allows holders to vote on ecosystem proposals submitted via the decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO). The more tokens they hold, the higher the weighting given to their vote.  BONE also acts as the native coin for the Shibarium network and is only available on the ShibaSwap exchange.

ShibaSwap: This is the decentralised exchange (DEX) within the Shiba Inu ecosystem where cryptocurrency holders can trade, swap, or convert their coins and tokens.

Shibarium: This is the Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain network within the Shiba Inu ecosystem. Shibarium enhances transaction speeds, reduces costs, and enables the development of Shiba Inu-themed decentralised apps (dApps).

Shiboshis: This is a collection of 10,000 Shiba Inu-themed NFTs. Each NFT has unique features and can be traded on ShibaSwap.

SHIB The Metaverse: This is Shiba Inu’s immersive virtual world where users can buy land, earn rewards, and build projects.

What Makes Shiba Inu (SHIB) Valuable?

Shiba Inu (SHIB) has multiple functionalities beyond its functions as a cryptocurrency. Because of this, SHIB can be seen to have value outside of just market speculation. 

Value can possibly be derived in the following ways:

Multiple Token Burn Mechanisms: The SHIB burn mechanism permanently removes a portion of the SHIB tokens from the market – this reduces the circulating supply and potentially increases the scarcity and value of the remaining tokens. One such mechanism is the Shibatiumburn which takes 70% of the base fee charged on the Shibarium chain to buy SHIB and burn it. 

Growing Ecosystem Of Products: Shiba Inu’s (SHIB) growing ecosystem continues to drive user growth and the need/want to hold the token.

Earn A Yield: SHIB owners can stake their tokens to earn a yield.

Currency/Transfer Of Value:  SHIB is a cryptocurrency and as such it is a borderless, cheap and fast means of transacting value digitally.

Strong Community: SHIB’s Twitter community houses 3.9 Million followers, more than Solana (2.6m), XRP (2.7M) and even ETH (3.3M).

Large Number Of Wallet Holders: With over 1.3 million holders, SHIB is one of the largest cryptocurrencies by wallet holders.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) Risks

‍Extremely high volatility: Because of their virality, popular meme coins are prone to excessively high price volatility. While some have successfully profited from the sharp price movements on meme coins, many traders have also lost due to the extreme price swings. The meme coins sector has a reputation for being a very high-risk high-reward sector. SHIB’s price has already experienced significant price volatility over its lifespan and this could continue.