Shiba Inu is one type of cryptocurrency, or digital currency, that is available only online. Its price soared in 2021, multiplying many times over, but it still trades for tiny fractions of a cent. Still, that’s enough to make the coin one of the world’s most popular cryptocurrencies, according to CoinMarketCap. But don’t get this coin confused with the Japanese dog breed that inspired its name.
BtcAdv blog can help you learn more interesting facts about Shiba Inu, keep reading if you are interested in it!
What is Shiba Inu (SHIB)?
Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a meme cryptocurrency running on the Ethereum blockchain. It was created in August 2020 by an anonymous developer named Ryoshi, whose identity is as mysterious as Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto. As the name suggests, SHIB was inspired by the Japanese dog breed Shiba Inu.
SHIB had a total supply of 1 quadrillion. When it was first launched, Ryoshi locked 50% of the total supply in Uniswap to provide liquidity. Uniswap is an automated market maker (AMM) protocol on the Ethereum blockchain and is one of the most successful projects in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. The other 500 trillion SHIB were sent to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who decided to burn 90% and donate the remaining to the India COVID-19 relief fund.
What Does Shiba Inu Do?
Shiba Inu is really divided into multiple tokens that help the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem function:
- SHIB – This is the foundational Shiba Inu currency that can be traded and used as a medium of exchange.
- LEASH – This token is limited to 107,646 units, making it the most limited of the Shiba Inu-related coins. It provides staking rewards for those validating transactions in the cryptocurrency.
- BONE – This token has 250 million units, and it’s used to allow those using Shiba Inu to vote on various proposals.
Shiba Inu also has other aspects of a community, including ShibaSwap, its own decentralized platform for trading coins, and Shiboshis, a type of non-fungible token (NFT).
The cryptocurrency continues the riff on its canine-themed coin across its ecosystem, including the crypto’s white paper, which founders call a “WoofPaper.” Meanwhile, it refers to those who own and support the coin as its “Shib Army.”
Why is SHIB So Popular?
During the global pandemic in 2020, the cryptocurrency market crashed and then exploded as retail investors flocked to digital assets like bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) to hedge against inflation. As mentioned, the stock market saga has led to the rise of meme coins. Some attribute SHIB’s popularity to social media influence, especially from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. After he publicly joked about Dogecoin on TV in May 2021 and made it slump in price, SHIB and other meme coins had taken advantage of the rising popularity of meme tokens. As of November 2021, SHIB price has increased more than 60,000,000% since January.
One of the reasons for SHIB to stand out from its fellow puppy coins is its Shiboshi NFTs and game. Catching on to the hype of the NFT markets, the 10,000 Shiboshis sold out in under 35 minutes. Shiba Inu launched its own NFTs using the ShibaSwap platform. As the owners name their Shiboshis and trigger the SHIB token burn, along with the development of the Shiboshi NFT game, the popularity of Shiba Inu could continue to grow.
Read More: Shiba Inu Coin Price Prediction 2040 – Should I Invest It?
How to Buy Shiba Inu?
1. Choose a Crypto Exchange
You’ll need a crypto exchange to buy Shiba Inu. An exchange is a place, either a website or an app, where buyers and sellers meet to exchange fiat currency (Sterling, in the UK) for cryptocurrencies, or one cryptocurrency for another.
There are hundreds of exchanges to choose from. They include big names such as eToro and Coinbase as well as smaller exchanges like Bitstamp. If you’re unsure which to choose, read our guide to the best crypto exchanges for 2022.
Some things to consider include:
Payment methods – check that the exchange accepts your preferred payment method and what fees apply. Many exchanges don’t accept PayPal, for example, and many charge 3.99% in debit or credit card payments.
Integrated wallet – check if the exchange offers an integrated wallet to securely hold your SHIB. If you’d prefer to hold it in a third-party wallet, check if withdrawals are allowed and whether any fees apply.
Currencies traded – Check that the exchange you’re signing up to actually allows you to trade SHIB.
2. Choose a Payment Method
Bank transfers are the most widely accepted and cost-effective way to pay for cryptocurrency. Many exchanges accept debit and credit cards, but for a fee of around 3.99% – and any money spent on fees is money that could have been invested.
There are two good reasons not to use a credit card to pay for cryptocurrency. First, it’s generally a bad idea to take on debt to pay for an investment as volatile as crypto. Second, your card issuer will treat the payment as a cash advance rather than a regular purchase and charge a higher rate of interest from the point of the transaction.
Very few exchanges accept PayPal, and those that do charge fees.
3. Place an Order
Once you’ve chosen an exchange and a way to pay, navigate to the Shiba Inu page on the website or app and enter the amount you’d like to invest.
4. Choose a Storage Method
Many exchanges have integrated wallets in which to store your SHIB, but you may prefer to store it in a third party wallet.
Assuming your exchange allows transfers out (for which they may charge a fee), you have the choice of a ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ wallet.
A cold wallet is a physical storage device like a hard drive or flash drive that isn’t connected to the internet. A hot wallet is a virtual wallet held online.
The former is more secure against hackers but only accessible by you. If you were to lose your own access keys, there would be nobody else with access to help you retrieve your crypto. The latter is less secure against hackers as it’s online, but the wallet provider may be able to offer assistance if you lose your access codes and can’t get into your wallet.
The choice between the two is a matter of weighing up ease of access against security.
Should you Invest in Shiba Inu in 2022?
Shiba Inu is an extremely high-risk investment that has most likely already peaked. Early buyers may have made serious money, but that success was primarily based on the hype and not any technical advantages. You’re better off with more useful cryptocurrencies or cryptocurrency stocks that have more long-term value.
The problem is that for everything Shiba Inu does, there are competitors that do it better. Shiba Inu can be used as a currency, but since it’s built on Ethereum, it often has slow processing times and high fees. Other cryptocurrencies, such as Solana (CRYPTO:SOL) offer much faster, cheaper transactions.
ShibaSwap is another use case for Shiba Inu, but it’s in a crowded marketplace. There are already quite a few DEXs out there, and the market leaders, including Uniswap (CRYPTO:UNI) and PancakeSwap (CRYPTO:CAKE), are much larger than ShibaSwap.
Meme coins and meme stocks sometimes catch fire, but their success rarely lasts long. The most likely scenario? Shiba Inu’s best days are behind it.
Read More:
- How To Stake Shiba Inu (SHIB)
- Shiba Inu (SHIB) Faucet
- How to Earn Free Shiba Inu (SHIB)
- How to Sell Shiba Inu (SHIB)
- Shiba Inu Coin Price Prediction
Shiba Inu History
Shiba Inu was created in August 2020 with an initial total supply of 1 quadrillion tokens. The first big moment in Shiba Inu’s history came in May 2021 when its founder sent half the supply to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. This was widely considered a publicity stunt to piggyback on the success of a more popular cryptocurrency. Ryoshi’s cryptic explanation was that “there is no greatness without a vulnerable point.”
Buterin ended up donating 10% of the tokens and burning (destroying) the other 90%. Because of that, Shiba Inu currently has a circulating supply of about 549 trillion tokens.
Shiba Inu launched its own decentralized exchange, ShibaSwap, in July 2021. In November, it partnered with David Folk (previously vice president of technology at Activision) to develop a cryptocurrency gaming project.
In terms of value, Shiba Inu started 2021 with a price of $0.000000000119. It hit a peak that year of $0.00008845. Comparing such small numbers is tricky, but an easier way to look at it is that the price had risen more than 74,000,000% in October 2021. It then suffered a major downturn, with the value dropping by more than 75%.
Is Shiba Inu Coin a Safe Investment?
Perhaps the most telling aspect of the coin’s legitimacy can be found in its whitepaper, or different versions of its whitepaper as it has been edited since launch. When Ryoshi created Shiba Inu, they sent half of the supply to Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum.
The whitepaper has a quote from Ryoshi saying “We sent 50% of the total supply to Vitalik. There is no greatness without a vulnerable point and as long as VB (Vitalik Buterin) doesn’t rug us, then SHIBA will grow and survive.”
What Will Shiba Inu Coin Be Worth?
According to the technical analysis of Shiba Inu prices expected in 2022, the minimum cost of Shiba Inu will be $0.00001307. The maximum level that the SHIB price can reach is $0.00001501. The average trading price is expected around $0.00001359.
Will a Shiba Inu Coin Reach 1 Dollar?
Shiba Inu is one of the most explosive investments ever. The massive supply of SHIB tokens means hitting the price of $1 per coin is virtually impossible. Despite that, it still could deliver more big gains.
