There’s a new dog in town. If you’ve kept even half an eye on the crypto market this past week, you will likely have seen mentions of the Shiba Inu token, or SHIB token. Those familiar with memecoins will already be intimately familiar with Dogecoin, which rose from a mere prank started in 2013 to its current position as becoming one of the cryptocurrencies with the largest market cap. Although the SHIB token could seem similar to Dogecoin at first glance, SHIB is actually branding itself as a “Dogecoin killer”. Read on and learn all about the SHIB, LEASH, and BONE token!
Individual memecoins may come and go, but the overall interest for the crypto sector accumulates. Dogecoin’s recent price surge has quickly become legendary, and the dog-themed memecoin has gained a lot of attention on the internet and even in traditional news. One highly publicized factor in Dogecoin’s recent rise is the fact that multi-billionaire Elon Musk seems to have taken a liking to the memecoin. However, an even larger reason for Dogecoin's rise is the simple fact that the meme-based coin has become a meme of its own. This largely summarizes what memecoins are.
Along with Dogecoin, the latest prominent dog-themed memecoin is the Shiba Inu token. The Shiba Inu token has seen tremendous growth over the last month. However, since the coin is new to the market and is a memecoin, there are many uncertainties. This has already been seen, as the token has started a dramatic dip. Therefore, we are going to dive deeper into the world of memecoins in general, and the Shiba Inu token (SHIB) in particular, to gather more information on the ”Dogecoin Killer”. Enroll in Ivan on Tech Academy to learn more about cryptocurrencies in general to do your own research!
What are Memecoins?
To understand SHIB, the price development of the SHIB token, and also the general risks with this type of cryptocurrencies, we must first understand what memecoins are.
The origins of a memecoin is pretty straightforward; the purpose of them is to have fun, potentially make money, or just do it “for the meme”. As such, memecoins are different from outright scamcoins in that they are not created with any malicious intent. Memes are powerful in that they have the potential to go viral and are pretty well known on the internet. In the case of Dogecoin, the meme from which the coin originates is the classic Doge meme. This is a meme that grew large in 2013. The dog from the Doge meme is a Shiba Inu, which is a breed of hunting dog from Japan.
Interestingly though, since the launch of Dogecoin, the dog-themed memecoin has grown from a mere meme coin to one of the largest cryptocurrencies in the world. However, Dogecoin is just one of the memecoins out there, but it is the best example to explain what a memecoin entails.
Most memecoins generally rise and fall depending on current sentiment. One driving factor for the extreme rise in price seen by both Dogecoin and Shiba Inu tokens is speculated to be FOMO - the fear of missing out. It is not hard to understand this fear since people have made millions on these meme coins. However, in these cases, it is very important to understand that with this high reward comes just as high risk. Since the prices can spike in one direction, it is also possible that they take a turn for the worst, something that will become evident further on in the article.
What is the Shiba Inu Token?
Users’ first look at the Shiba Inu token came in August of 2020, when its developers showed us their creation. The creator of the Shiba token is known as “Ryoshi”, organized as the group “Ryoshi Research”. Once the developers finished minting one quadrillion tokens, they decided to do something unexpected. The first thing they did was to lock up 50% of all the tokens on Uniswap and threw away the key. The remaining 50% were then gifted away, or “burned”, to the Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin.
Furthermore, the people behind SHIB refer to the Shib Inu coin as the Dogecoin Killer. The reason for this is that the price of a token can remain under a penny and still outpace Dogecoin’s price growth. Since the price of the tokens is so low, it allows holders of the currency to own billions and even trillions of tokens.
SHIB is an ERC-20 token, which means that this currency is built using the Ethereum network. The reason for choosing the Ethereum blockchain for the development of the Shiba Inu system was supposedly due to the fact that it was secure and well-established. Decentralization is the top priority for the token, and they see Ethereum as the way to remain completely decentralized. The Ethereum network allows the system to develop and evolve without any outside regulations. If you want to learn more, feel free to read the Shiba Inu whitepaper, or “Woof Paper”.
The Shiba Inu Ecosystem
SHIB is receiving a lot of attention right now. This is largely due to the token’s exorbitant price rally. However, SHIB is just one of three tokens in the Shiba Inu ecosystem. Along with the Shiba Inu token, there are also the LEASH token and the BONE token.
The LEASH token was initially set to be a rebase token pegged to the price of Dogecoin. Nevertheless, once the Shiba Inu “unleashed” the LEASH token, they announce that they will not rebase. LEASH differs from SHIB in that the supply is limited to about 100,000 tokens, giving this coin a different appeal compared to the SHIB Shiba Inu token.
What’s more, the Shiba Inu team describes the BONE token as somewhat of a middle ground between the Shiba Inu and the LEASH tokens. BONE has a supply of 250,000,00 tokens, and is a governance token that allow the holders to vote on important matters for the next year. The more BONE a holder has, the more weight their vote has on future issues. They also announce on their website that the BONE token will take decentralized finance (DeFi) to the next level.
Another essential part of Shiba Inu’s ecosystem is ShibaSwap. The three tokens mentioned previously are the origins of Shiba Inu's ecosystem, and they established themselves through the ShibaSwap exchange.
The goal and purpose of ShibaSwap is to create a safe environment where cryptocurrencies can be traded. They also emphasize keeping the system completely decentralized as their loyalties lay with the holders of the Shiba Inu tokens. As it seems, they also have ambitions to grow and develop both ShibaSwap and the other parts of their system even further.
Token Functionalities
All the tokens within the Shiba Inu ecosystem can be either buried or dug. The bury functions are basically just a function for staking the tokens; meanwhile, the digging function is a way to farm tokens. Let's start with SHIB and look at what is received for burying and digging the tokens.
Shiba Inu Tokens
When burying these tokens, the one staking receives a reward in the form of BONE tokens. 3% of all the BONE per block accumulates in xSHIB, which is the staked or buried versions of the Shiba Inu token. Along with this, the xSHIB also receives 0.3% of all the Ethereum Swap transaction fees that occur on the ShibaSwap exchange. This is a method that they call ”double return puppy pool”.
Digging, on the other hand, is done by bringing SHIB-ETH UNI-V2 tokens or providing liquidity to the Shiba liquidity pool.
LEASH Tokens
When the LEASH tokens are staked or buried, the one staking the coins receives a reward in the form of xLEASH tokens. The people holding the xLEASH tokens are part of the xLEASH liquidity pool. If someone is a part of this pool, they receive 0.5% of all BONE per block. And when digging or providing liquidity with the LEASH tokens, the digger gets a share of the LEASH-ETH SSLP.
LEASH Token
BONE tokens
When burying BONE tokens, the user receives tBONE. This entitles the holder the right to be part of a pool that provides the members 1% of all the BONE per block. And digging, in this case, is similar to the function for the LEASH tokens. The person digging or providing liquidity receives a share of the BONE-ETH SSLP.
Shiba Inu Metrics
The price development of the Shiba Inu token has been exponential since its launch. As of the 12th of May, the price of one token was $0.00003066, and the growth since launch has been amazing. Since the launch of the Shiba Inu token in August last year, the price development has been approximately 1,000,000%, which would raise anyone’s eyebrows. Along with this tremendous growth since issuance, the price of SHIB increased by almost 1,600% in the last week, between the 5th and 12th of May.
Furthermore, according to CoinMarketCap, the market cap of this token reached $11,779,000,587 as of May 12th, which ranked it at number 20 in the CoinMarketCap ranking. The total supply of SHIB is 1,000,000,000,000,000 and the number of tokens in circulation was 394,796,000,000,000 yesterday.
However, in general, cryptocurrencies are quite volatile, and this development just proves how much the price of Shiba Inu can fluctuate in a short amount of time. This was further demonstrated on May 13th, when the price of the SHIB fell by almost 42% during 24 hours. This means that the price on May 13th is down to $0.00001642 which is about half of the price of the all time high that was reached two days ago. This drastic drop in price has also lowered the market cap from almost $11.8 billion, to around $6.6 billion in just one day.
Buying SHIB, LEASH, and BONE Tokens
The developers of Shiba Inu recommend only one way of buying these tokens. They suggest that people use Uniswap to acquire both SHIB and LEASH. They claim the reason for this is that Uniswap is safe, and that other centralized exchanges have a history of locking funds. Uniswap is a well-established exchange that is trustworthy and can be used to swap these tokens.
The governance BONE tokens, on the other hand, are actually not yet available. However, the Shiba Inu team promises that they will soon be tradable. They also promise that more information on how to acquire BONE tokens will be provided within the near future.
Investing in Memecoins
The crypto market is known for being volatile, and the associated risk is high. Putting memecoins into the equation naturally makes investments even riskier. The astronomical rise in the price of the Shiba Inu token is sure to attract a lot of attention, but it is well nigh impossible to predict when a memecoin’s price will take a turn for the worse. If you are unlucky, you buy coins or tokens at the wrong time, then the price falls, and your assets could become next to useless.
This was clearly seen on May 13th, 2021, when the price of the Shiba Inu token dropped drastically. Investing only two days ago would have resulted in a loss of almost 50% which is quite significant.
As mentioned previously in the article, 50% of all SHIB tokens were gifted to the wallet of Vitalik Buterin. This meant that the coins he owned on May 12th were worth around $8 billion. This is also partly the reason why the price of SHIB dropped, as Vitalik decided to sell SHIB tokens to donate to India, to help the nation battle its recent COVID-19 catastrophe. This highlights part of the SHIB token’s frailty, since one man was able to have such an effect on the token’s price.
In short, the lack of information makes it hard to evaluate if the price is justifiable. Now after Vitalik sold such a large portion of the tokens, they are now distributed over a larger amount of people. This means that the problem of one large owner is somewhat eliminated.
Shiba Inu Token Summary
The cryptocurrency market is still booming, and even memecoins like Dogecoin can demonstrably still rocket to the upper echelons of the charts. However, when it comes to the world of crypto, it is important to be careful since the markets can be so volatile. This means that the price of these currencies frequently fluctuates.
Specifically, the memecoin Dogecoin has seen tremendous growth in the past year, and it has gained a lot of attention on the internet and in traditional media. Celebrities like Elon Musk have also spoken fondly of cryptos like Dogecoin, and it is a contributing factor to the price increase. However, recently, other dog-themed memecoins - like those of Shiba Inu, Akita Inu and the Dogelon token - have grown rapidly as well. Since the launch of SHIB token, its price has increased by a massive 1,000,000%.
However, as mentioned earlier, investors need to tread lightly when it comes to cryptocurrencies - and especially memecoins. SHIB is a relatively new currency, and there is not a lot of information regarding these tokens. This means that it is hard to determine where the currency is headed. Although Shiba Inu’s price rally since its issuance has been astronomical, the coin went on to lose almost 50% of its value in just two days.
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