Memecoin Shiba Inu ($SHIB) was created to be a Dogecoin killer. $SHIB’s founders wanted to bring utility and community to the niche market by introducing a bustling ecosystem. Four years after the project was founded, the Shiba Inu project is now home to three tokens, a native layer-2 blockchain, and various crypto products. Ranked at number 17 by its market capitalisation of $5 billion, Shiba Inu still has a way to go before it dethrones $DOGE’s status as top memecoin with its market cap of $11 billlion.
Shiba Inu’s origins
Launched in 2020, Shiba Inu is an Ethereum-based altcoin featuring the Japanese Shiba Inu dog as its mascot. It quickly gained popularity and was soon labelled by some $SHIB bulls as the “Dogecoin killer.” The cryptocurrency was created by an anonymous individual or group known as Ryoshi. The Shiba Inu project is guided by principles outlined in its “woof paper” (a playful take on “white paper”), which is accessible on its website. This document reveals the project’s community-driven ethos, emphasising decentralised, collective efforts over centralised control.
The document said that the project was born out of the question: “What would happen if a cryptocurrency project was 100% run by its community?” Ryoshi added that it was an “experiment in decentralised spontaneous community building”. Shiba Inu saw a remarkable increase in value, especially in 2021, challenging Dogecoin’s dominance and inspiring the creation of other dog-themed cryptocurrencies. From its low of $0.000000000056 to its peak in October 2021, $SHIB’s value increased by approximately 150 million percent.
Native token: SHIB
$SHIB is based on the Ethereum ($ETH) blockchain and is classified as an ERC-20 token. Its rise in popularity can be attributed to the strong support from its community, known as the ShibArmy, and the influence of various online influencers.
At the time of writing, $SHIB was trading at $0.0000086, down 4% in the past 24 hours and 22% over the previous month. This is inline with the wider market trend as the crypto industry consolidates after the Bitcoin ETF hype. However, the memecoin was up over 651,000% since its launch in 2020.
Shiba Inu ecosystem
The Shiba Inu ecosystem is not limited to $SHIB alone. It includes two other tokens: $LEASH and $BONE. Leash, with a limited supply of 107,646 tokens, serves as a reward mechanism for the community. Meanwhile, Bone is positioned between $SHIB and Leash in terms of supply. It acts as a governance token, empowering the ShibArmy with voting rights on future project developments.
Crypto products
The Shiba Inu ecosystem has broadened its scope, introducing various platforms that add utility for its community members. A key component of this expansion is ShibaSwap, a decentralised finance (DeFi) platform launched in July 2021. This platform plays a pivotal role in the trading of $SHIB, $LEASH, and $BONE, offering a decentralised avenue for these transactions.
The launch of ShibaSwap was a highly anticipated event for the ShibArmy, marking a significant milestone in the cryptocurrency’s journey. ShibaSwap operates as an automated market maker (AMM), utilising smart contracts to enable automatic asset swapping without the need for traditional order books, thereby reducing trading fees.
Drawing inspiration from Uniswap, ShibaSwap differentiates itself with a unique feature: a six-month lock rule for 67% of the assets provided for liquidity. This mechanism allows investors to earn interest on their locked assets. Trading on ShibaSwap involves distinctive methods for $SHIB, $LEASH, and $BONE. Users can engage in activities like DIG (providing liquidity), BURY (staking), and SWAP to earn profits. This system represents an innovative approach in the DeFi space, offering a sophisticated passive income reward system.
In addition to ShibaSwap, the Shiba Inu ecosystem includes the Shiba Inu Incubator, which aims to nurture creativity beyond conventional art forms. Another notable aspect of the ecosystem is the introduction of Shiboshis, unique non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that are part of the Shiba Inu platform and are based on the Ethereum blockchain. These NFTs add a collectible dimension to the Shiba Inu ecosystem, further diversifying its offerings.
What is Shibarium?
January 2023 saw the introduction of Shibarium, a layer-2 blockchain. This development, built on top of the Ethereum network, aims to alleviate congestion, reduce transaction costs, and provide a foundation for decentralised applications and Web 3.0 growth. Shibarium’s initial launch in August of the same year faced technical challenges, leading to approximately $1.7 million in $ETH being temporarily locked in the Shibarium cross-chain bridge. Despite these early setbacks, the platform underwent a successful relaunch later in the month. This relaunch marked a notable uptick in adoption, with over a million wallets registering on the new blockchain within weeks.
Recently, Shibarium achieved a significant milestone, surpassing 300 million total transactions. This follows a period of high activity on the network, with daily transactions ranging between 1.2 and 7.8 million. The Shiba Inu official X account commented on this growth, stating: “#SHIBARMY is driving #Shibarium to new heights. This rollercoaster truly has only one direction: UP!”
