Meme cryptocurrency Shiba Inu has taken the internet by storm. Find out why!
The doge meme and the cryptocurrencies associated with it have been gaining popularity all through 2021, and you have business magnate Elon Musk to thank for it—from spending the first half of 2021 tweeting about Dogecoin to outrightly admitting that he doesn’t have any Shiba Inu.
Shiba Inu is an Ethereum-based spin-off of Dogecoin. It was made by an anonymous developer or group of developers called “Ryoshi” and entered the crypto market in August 2020. Its creators have even labeled it as the “Dogecoin killer”. The cryptocurrency has been gaining traction and has become the 12th biggest crypto token with a market capitalization of US$24.04 billion. But what is the secret to Shiba Inu’s popularity, and what does the token’s future look like? Let’s find out.
Reasons behind Shiba Inu’s rising value
A Change.org petition to list Shiba Inu Coin on Robinhood
Shiba Inu gained popularity when a Change.org petition began to request the crypto trading platform Robinhood to list the token on its website. The petition explained how Dogecoin has brought success to the platform and that Shiba Inu coin, with its growth potential, could do the same. At present, the petition has over 5.25 million signatures.
In October this year, the petition picked up steam, and with it, the prices of Shiba Inu coin surged as well. By October 27, Shiba Inu reached US$0.00008456 in value, rising by 72.62% compared to the day before.
Elon Musk’s influence
On October 4, Musk tweeted a picture of his Shiba Inu pup called “Floki Frunkpuppy”. This led to a sudden rise in Shiba Inu’s prices. Within a day of this tweet, Shiba Inu’s transaction volumes surged by 770%.
In spite of Musk’s clarification that he doesn’t hold any Shiba Inu coin, crypto investors have been trying to connect him to the Dogecoin and Shiba Inu coin feud. On November 2, Musk tweeted an ancient Chinese poem that translates to “Beanstalks are ignited to boil beans. The beans in the pot cry out. We are born of the same root. Why should we incinerate each other with such impatience?”
Commentators understood this tweet as Musk’s response to the rising popularity of Shiba Inu coin.
Can Shiba Inu coin dethrone Dogecoin?
As of writing this article, Dogecoin has a value of US$0.2231 and Shiba Inu has a value of US$0.0000438. However, crypto experts seem to be hopeful about Shiba Inu’s future.
Simon Peters, crypto-asset analyst at financial services company eToro, says, “As more exchanges begin to list the token and provide investors the opportunity to gain exposure, like any asset it will become more routinely traded alongside the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum.”
The community behind Shiba Inu has been constantly innovating and trying to find ways to increase the token’s popularity. They have released a number of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called “Shiboshis”. This is probably why Nirmal Ranga, the Chief Revenue Officer of financial services company Zeb Pay, says that, “The Shiba Inu token system supports innovative and artistic projects like NFT art incubators.” How the token’s future eventually plays out is yet to be determined. As a prospective investor, you must carefully consider market trends before jumping head-first into purchasing Shiba Inu.
Header image courtesy of Freepik
