Shiba Inu — From a meme to a full-on crypto project

Shiba Inu is an altcoin that many of us have come across due to its vast popularity and funny logo containing the meme-worthy Shiba dog. This Ethereum-based coin is often considered an alternative and rival of Dogecoin, although founded a whopping seven years later. Despite these coins sharing some similarities, Shiba Inu is most definitely its own project and token with an avid supporter community known as the SHIBArmy. In the crypto space, the coin is often considered a mainstream one linked with frenzy buying schemes by retail investors in fear of missing out. To say the least, the price of this coin has been very volatile.

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The brief Shiba history

The history of this project is rather brief, considering the token was founded only in 2020. The Shiba Inu ecosystem was introduced in its “woof paper,” detailing the purposes of the coin. The core question presented in this paper was worded, “What would happen if a cryptocurrency project was 100% run by its community?”

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The Shiba founding members remain unknown. The person or group acting as the mastermind of this project is usually referred to as the "Ryoshi." What comes to the thematics of this project, the Shiba Inu name and symbol are inspired by the Japanese dog breed Shiba Inu familiar from Dogecoin and the Doge internet meme. Due to these similarities, Shiba Inu has been seen as a satire coin for Dogecoin. The subjects are also very mainstream, making the coin easily approachable for all kinds of investors, including newbies. The coin, just like its cousin Dogecoin, gives an interesting insight into how meme-worthy viral marketing can make a cryptocurrency stand out.

Shiba Inu software trivia

What comes to the blockchain basis, Shiba Inu doesn’t own its own blockchain. Instead, the token is an Ethereum-based ERC-20 token. In the project’s white paper, this is reasoned due to Ethereum’s strengths in security, decentralization, and well-established role in the world of blockchain. 

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Besides being a widely traded coin, the Shiba Inu ecosystem contains multiple applications such as ShibaSwap, Shiba Inu Incubator, and Shiboshis. Firstly, ShibaSwap is a DeFi (Decentralized Finance) application providing a safe place for decentralized cryptocurrency trading. Shiba Inu Incubator, in turn, is more in the artistic game league with a fresh outlook on art and creativity. Thirdly, Shibosis comes with 10,000 Ethereum blockchain-based NFTs making certain aspects of this project collectibles too!

SHIB, the token

Shiba Inu comes with its tokens, of course, the most known one being the SHIB. This token has been traded furiously, followed by high surges in its value. The initial supply was capped at one quadrillion, out of which 50% was locked in Uniswap for liquidation and the other half sent to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin to safe keep. Buterin has later donated a notable amount of this for fights against COVID. Besides this, he burned 40% of the total SHIB circulation. 

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Besides SHIB, the Shiba Inu ecosystem contains two other coins, LEASH, and BONE. These tokens have other functions besides being investment instruments, such as ecosystem governance and voting.

The future of Shiba Inu

Despite the meme nature of this coin, there’s more under the surface about what comes to SHIB and the project behind it. The idea of a cryptocurrency project being 100% run by its community has proved over and over again the potential of this crypto to emerge from zero to great lengths, from nothing to everything it is today. Even though the coin is highly meme-worthy in its theme and volatility, there is much more from NFT applications to other goals too. In the end, Shibu Inu is an intriguing mix of group work, smart marketing, and volatility with a hint of FOMO.

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