SHIBA INU(SHIB)

Launched as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain in August 2020, Shiba Inu coin (SHIB) is one of the two most popular canine-themed meme coins. Shiba cryptocurrency gained quick popularity as a potential ‘Dogecoin Killer’ post its launch and continues to rival Dogecoin (DOGE).

Initially, many believed that Vitalik Buterin was the actual creator of SHIB until he denied any such involvement during a Lex Friedman podcast in June 2021. The general consensus today is that SHIB was created by an anonymous person with the pseudonym, "Ryoshi. Like Bitcoin’s founder Satoshi Nakamoto, not much is known about Ryoshi either. According to his blog, he is “just some guy of no consequence tapping at a keyboard”.

Shiba Inu has a maximum supply of 1 quadrillion tokens, half of which were initially sent over to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. 

Whilst Shiba Inu began its journey as a decentralized meme token, it has gradually evolved into a vibrant ecosystem, comprising two more crypto assets — LEASH and BONE and the ShibaSwap DEX, along with the Shiba Incubator and Shiba Inu Rescue Association.

SHIB price

Shiba Inu coin price in USD terms didn’t witness any noteworthy price action after its release, with Shiba price range-bound within $0.00000000016 to around $0.000000000056 till Nov. 28, 2020.

SHIB price chart mostly moved sideways up until February of 2021. Thereafter, buoyed by market-wide positive sentiment, and SHIB listings on multiple exchanges like BKEX, MXC, BitMart, BitForex, Crypto.com and KuCoin, the token registered a strong rally to reach around $0.00004 on May. 10, 2021. 

At that point, SHIB’s fully diluted valuation was over $13.5 billion. It was also the month when many other cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, were recording their own respective all-time highs. Thereafter, Shiba price dipped along with the crypto market.

As can be seen in our SHIB live price chart, the token’s price sprung back to life only around October 2021. Making the most of the overall bullish market sentiment, Shiba coin registered an all-time high of over $0.000088 on October 28, 2021 — rising more than 8,000% since April 2021.

How SHIB works

Being an ERC-20 token, SHIB uses Ethereum’s proof-of-work consensus mechanism and can be held in any Ethereum-compatible crypto wallet. Each SHIB transaction is processed on the Ethereum blockchain and is subject to gas fees.

Apart from transfers between wallets, SHIB coin can be exchanged with other popular cryptocurrencies on ShibaSwap, Shiba Inu’s native decentralized exchange (DEX).

The token is also being increasingly adopted as an acceptable means of payment at online and offline merchant establishments across the world. These include the likes of ARTLy, Shiba Coffee Company, Spada Diamonds, CoinVPN, ExpressVPN and Travala.com. SHIB holders can also stake their tokens to earn passive income.

SHIB news, updates and highlights

The most noteworthy SHIB price movements are witnessed on the heels of adoption-related developments, ecosystem updates, burn announcements and industry-wide regulatory changes. For instance, Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the US, listed SHIB on Sept. 16, 2021, boosting SHIB price prior to its massive rally.

SHIB price mainly surged in October 2021 and famously created a billionaire who got covered by many news publications. Essentially, Shiba Inu coin's price had risen so much that a wallet that had purchased $8,000 worth of SHIB in August 2020 was found to be worth around $5.7 billion in October 2021, as the token’s value was up by over 7,000,000% percent since its debut.

In Q1 2022, the Shiba Inu team announced its own metaverse called SHIB: The Metaverse. According to a blog post on the ShibaSwap website, this metaverse will offer a massive environment for the Shiba Inu community. More importantly, all native tokens – SHIB, LEASH and BONE – will play a key role in the virtual world.

Frequently asked questions about SHIB

• Can you mine or stake SHIB?

You cannot mine SHIB as all tokens were pre-mined, however, you can stake SHIB to earn staking rewards.

• What are some of the best SHIB wallets?

Whilst any Ethereum-compatible wallet will hold your SHIB tokens, MetaMask is the most popular choice for SHIB storage. It is also recommended by the token’s official website. Other compatible wallets include Ledger Nano X/S, Trezor, Atomic Wallet and Exodus Wallet.

• What can you do with SHIB?

You can use SHIB at various online/offline merchants to pay for goods and services. It’s also commonly used to earn staking rewards and for trading against other popular crypto coins like BTC, ADA, SOL and ETH.

• How to buy SHIB?

The easiest and quickest way to buy SHIB is through ShibaSwap, the SHIB ecosystem’s native DEX. The token can also be purchased from an ever-growing list of centralized exchange platforms (CEXs).