What Is Shiba Inu Coin?

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a meme coin that operates on the Ethereum blockchain. It was launched in August 2020 by an anonymous developer known as Ryoshi, whose identity remains as elusive as that of Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. True to its name, SHIB takes inspiration from the Shiba Inu dog breed from Japan.

The total supply of SHIB is a whopping 1 quadrillion. When it first hit the market, Ryoshi locked away 50% of that supply in Uniswap to ensure liquidity. Uniswap is a popular automated market maker (AMM) protocol on Ethereum and has made a significant impact in the decentralized finance (DeFi) world. The other half, 500 trillion SHIB, was sent to Vitalik Buterin, one of Ethereum’s co-founders. He chose to burn 90% of it and donated the rest to help with COVID-19 relief efforts in India.

Shiba Inu Ecosystem

To stick with the dog theme, Shiba Inu incorporates canine lingo throughout its ecosystem. As outlined in the “WoofPaper,” Shiba Inu is a community-focused project aimed at developing a decentralized cryptocurrency.

The SHIB ecosystem features a decentralized exchange known as ShibaSwap. Here, you can trade SHIB and other cryptocurrencies, “dig” into the Puppy Pools for liquidity, or “bury” your tokens in smart contracts to earn interest with SHIB and two other ERC-20 tokens, Doge Killer (LEASH) and Bone ShibaSwap (BONE).

LEASH is the second token introduced by Shiba Inu and is also available on ShibaSwap. With a circulating supply of 107,646 tokens, LEASH was originally designed as a rebase token to mirror Dogecoin’s price. However, the SHIB developers opted to convert LEASH into an ERC-20 token. Those holding LEASH can stake their tokens in the liquidity pool and receive xLEASH as rewards.

BONE serves as a governance token, with a total supply of 250,000,000 tokens. In the future, it will empower the ShibArmy (the community’s nickname) to vote on proposals within the Doggy DAO.

Additionally, Shiba Inu is launching a non-fungible token (NFT) art incubator called Shiba Artist Incubator. This initiative encourages dog-loving artists worldwide to showcase their Shiba Inu-inspired works in the NFT space, including paintings, photography, and digital art.

In October 2021, the SHIB team released 10,000 “Shiboshi” NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain and teased an upcoming NFT game called Shiboshi Game. They also introduced a new token-burning mechanism: whenever Shiboshi holders want to rename their NFTs, they must pay a fee of $100 in SHIB, which will be burned (sent to the SHIB burn wallet).

Why it is so popular?

In 2020, when the world was hit by the pandemic, the cryptocurrency scene took a nosedive but then skyrocketed as everyday investors jumped into digital currencies like bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) to protect themselves from inflation. The rollercoaster ride in the stock market also gave rise to meme coins. A lot of people think SHIB got its fame thanks to social media buzz, particularly from Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla. After he made a lighthearted comment about Dogecoin on TV in May 2021, which caused its price to drop, SHIB and other meme coins seized the moment and gained traction. By November 2021, SHIB’s price had skyrocketed by over 60,000,000% since the start of the year.

What makes SHIB different from other dog-themed coins is its Shiboshi NFTs and the game that goes with them. Riding the wave of the NFT craze, all 10,000 Shiboshis sold out in less than 35 minutes. Shiba Inu even launched its own NFTs on the ShibaSwap platform. As owners name their Shiboshis and burn SHIB tokens, plus with the development of the Shiboshi NFT game, Shiba Inu’s popularity might just keep climbing.

Conclusion

Shiba Inu really took off in 2021. With the introduction of Shiboshi NFTs and the soon-to-be-released Shiboshi Game, SHIB might just outshine DOGE in terms of utility and ecosystem. Still, it’s super important to do your own research before diving into crypto, especially with meme coins. They tend to be way more unpredictable than bigger market cap coins since their value often hinges on social media buzz.