Shib Coin: A Smart Investment Move?

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a cryptocurrency that has exploded in popularity in recent years, despite struggling through the Crypto winter of 2022-2023. It is a highly volatile asset, and its value is heavily influenced by social media hype and the actions of whales (major investors). With that in mind, is it a good investment?

Shiba Inu is a risky investment. Its value is speculative, and it is susceptible to the risk appetite of the wider crypto market. It is also not widely accepted as a payment method, limiting its real-world utility. Additionally, its supply is unlimited, unlike Bitcoin, and it has low functionality.

However, Shiba Inu has its advantages. It is a good way to diversify a portfolio, especially as it is still a relatively small market cap coin. It also has a strong community, and its price has been increasing. As of July 1, 2024, its price was $0.0000172 with a market capitalization of $10.13 billion. Some experts predict that its price could reach $0.0000298- $0.0000396 by the end of 2024.

So, is it a good investment? That depends on your risk tolerance and overall investment portfolio. It is probably best to treat it as a speculative asset and only invest what you are willing to lose.

Shiba Inu's price history and future predictions

Shiba Inus price history and future predictions

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is an Ethereum-based altcoin based on the theme of a Japanese hunting dog meme coin that was created in August 2020. It quickly gained popularity and is currently among the top 13 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Price History

As of August 2024, the Shiba Inu price is trading at around $0.000013- $0.000017 with a market capitalization of $8-10 billion. This is a significant decrease from its peak price of $0.00008845, with a market capitalization of around $43 billion, in October 2021.

Future Predictions

The future of Shiba Inu is uncertain and depends on various factors, including community support, regulatory changes, broader market adoption, and competition in the cryptocurrency space. Here are some specific price predictions for the coming years:

• 2024 - The minimum price of SHIB is predicted to be around $0.0000125, with a maximum of $0.0000209 and an average trading price of $0.0000293. Some more optimistic predictions place the maximum price at $0.0000296- $0.0000396, assuming favourable market conditions.
• 2025 - The minimum expected price is around $0.000021, with a maximum of $0.000027 and an average trading price of $0.000023.
• 2026 - The minimum price is expected to be around $0.000032, with a maximum of $0.000038 and an average trading price of $0.000033.
• 2027 - The minimum SHIB price might drop to $0.000045, while its maximum can reach $0.000055. The average trading cost is predicted to be around $0.000047.
• 2028 - The maximum and minimum SHIB prices are expected to be $0.000078 and $0.000064, respectively, with an average trading price of $0.000066.
• 2029 - The average SHIB price is predicted to be around $0.000100, with a minimum of $0.000096 and a maximum of $0.000113.
• 2030 - The SHIB price could range from $0.000138 to $0.000195, with an average price of around $0.000143-$0.000178.

Shiba Inu's performance in 2023

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is an Ethereum-based altcoin that was launched in 2020. It is based on the theme of a Japanese hunting dog meme coin.

SHIB's performance in 2023 was marked by a short-lived bullish trend at the start of the year, followed by a period of extreme bearish influence. The price rebounded at the beginning of 2023, after reaching its lowest point just before the end of 2022. However, the price action remained largely inactive, with a decrease in the number of active and new addresses. The daily active address count and new address count dropped significantly, indicating a decline in user interest and a bearish indicator for the token's value.

By the end of the first quarter of 2023, the price was expected to undergo a minor pullback and break down to reach interim support below $0.00001. However, a notable flip was anticipated, which could push the price back above $0.00002 by the end of the second quarter.

During the second half of 2023, the Shiba Inu price was expected to trigger a notable upswing, closing the third quarter around $0.000030 and ending the year around $0.000035.

Looking ahead to 2024, the Shiba Inu price is predicted to continue its bullish momentum, with the possibility of reaching $0.000045 by the end of the first half of the year. The overall sentiment for SHIB in 2024 is positive, with the potential for further growth, although there are also risks of a decline.

It is important to note that the cryptocurrency market is highly volatile, and it is challenging to predict the future price of Shiba Inu with certainty. Investors should carefully consider their investment decisions and conduct thorough research before investing in cryptocurrencies.

Pros and cons of investing in Shiba Inu

Pros

Shiba Inu has experienced significant price fluctuations and has benefited from the difficult situation cryptos have been in from 2021 to 2022. Despite its low current value, it has gained ample attention and dominates a major portion of the crypto market, proving to be a great option for investors.

Launch of Shibarium

Shibarium is Shiba Inu's own layer-2 blockchain network, which is expected to be introduced in 2023. This will provide Shiba Inu with its own blockchain infrastructure, enabling autonomous developers and users to build on and engage in its validation process. Users and stakers who take part will be compensated with the BONE token.

Launch of its own Metaverse

Shiba Inu is planning to release its own metaverse, known as SHIB: The Metaverse. Over 100,000 virtual land plots have been made available, with many being bought before the launch.

Shiba Collectible Card Game

Shiba Inu is developing a play-to-earn game, and gaming veteran William Volk has been appointed as one of the leads for the project. The TREAT token will be awarded to players as compensation for participating in the game.

Rolling out Shi

Shiba Inu is preparing to introduce the Shi stablecoin, which will be utilized on the Shibarium layer-2 blockchain. The purpose of the Shi stablecoin is to bring added value and uses to Shiba Inu, and it will be pegged at $1.

Big roles of the whales

In July 2022, it was discovered that Shiba Inu had an advantage in the form of whales, as it was the second-largest holding among Ethereum whales, behind only USDC. Approximately 13.9% of the top 100 Ethereum whale wallets held SHIB. These whales play a crucial role in predicting bullish price momentum, as their presence signals confidence among experienced investors that the asset will increase in value.

Potential to be the top meme coin

Shiba Inu has emerged as a major competitor to Dogecoin, positioning itself as a potential top meme coin in the crypto market. In the previous bull run, Shiba Inu briefly surpassed Dogecoin in market capitalization and became one of the top 10 meme coins by market capitalization. This competition between the two coins is significant because it impacts Shiba Inu’s potential for growth.

The element of founder anonymity

The anonymous nature of Shiba Inu’s founder(s) has been a contributing factor to its success, similar to how Bitcoin’s founder(s) anonymity helped dissociate the crypto from any individual. This means that any potential issues or controversies surrounding the founders of Shiba Inu may not directly impact the crypto’s price movement.

Cons

Mystery

The lead developer of Shiba Inu, Shytoshi Kusama, uses a pseudonym, and news about the project is only disseminated through occasional posts on Medium. The absence of a centralized platform to track developments and announcements means that the project’s followers must rely on information from an anonymous source.

Unconfirmed tokenomics

The lack of clarity around tokenomics can raise concerns about the credibility of a crypto project. In the case of Shiba Inu, the limited supply and distribution of the BONE token may raise questions about how it will be used for governance and gas fees on the upcoming Shibarium layer-2 blockchain.

Competition

Shiba Inu faces stiff competition in the metaverse, layer-2 blockchain, and play-to-earn gaming spaces. It will be competing against established players like Polygon, Decentraland, The Sandbox, Axie Infinity, and STEPN.

Stablecoin dramas

The lack of information on the backing of the Shi stablecoin raises concerns. The only available information indicates that TREAT will help to maintain the stablecoin’s value at $1. This news is not encouraging, especially after the collapse of TerraUSD in May.

Lacks differentiating features

Shiba Inu faces a major challenge in terms of lacking unique features that differentiate it from the vast number of other cryptos in the market. This has resulted in limited adoption, particularly among companies that could increase SHIB’s popularity beyond the crypto community.

The opportunity for exponential gains may be gone

Shiba Inu gained significant attention during the 2020/21 bull rally, surging by an astounding 48,000,000%. While this brought crypto into the spotlight, it also complicates its current investment potential. Many investors who bought during this period are still holding positions that yield substantial profits, despite the current market downturn. As such, they may have little incentive to hold on to their Shiba Inu investments and could choose to sell, causing further price declines.

Shiba Inu is an ERC-20 token

Shiba Inu operates on the Ethereum blockchain and is an ERC-20 token, which comes with its advantages as Ethereum is a dominant platform. However, there are potential risks associated with this, such as the fact that when Ethereum experiences a drop in value, ERC-20 tokens are likely to follow suit. Therefore, it is important for investors to monitor the overall health of the Ethereum ecosystem as they invest in Shiba Inu.

How Shiba Inu works

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is an Ethereum-based altcoin inspired by the Japanese hunting dog meme that rose to popularity in 2020. It is a decentralised cryptocurrency, meaning it leverages the security of the Ethereum network. As an ERC-20 token, SHIB can interact with various decentralised finance (DeFi) projects on the same blockchain.

The Shiba Inu ecosystem comprises several tokens, including SHIB, LEASH, and BONE, each with unique functions. LEASH is a rebase token linked to the price of Dogecoin, with a much smaller supply. BONE is a governance token that allows the ShibArmy (SHIB's devoted community) to vote on future proposals, with voting power determined by the number of tokens held.

ShibaSwap, a decentralised exchange (DEX) within the Shiba Inu ecosystem, is crucial to SHIB's operation. It allows users to trade cryptocurrencies without the constraints of a centralised platform. On ShibaSwap, users can provide liquidity, stake, and swap any of the three Shiba Inu tokens. By staking their SHIB tokens, users can lock them up for a certain period and earn rewards, similar to earning interest on a traditional bank deposit. Additionally, providing liquidity on ShibaSwap by depositing tokens into a liquidity pool entitles users to a portion of the transaction fees generated by the exchange.

SHIB can be spent directly with companies that accept it as payment, converted into cash via the BitPay crypto card, used to buy gift cards, or utilised in peer-to-peer transactions.

Shiba Inu's ecosystem and tokenomics

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a meme coin created by pseudonymous developer Ryoshi as a response to Dogecoin. It is a cryptocurrency ecosystem on Ethereum that includes a centralised exchange, a metaverse project, and the native SHIB token. It is an ERC-20 token created in August 2020 and is the Ethereum counterpart to the competing dog-based meme coin, Dogecoin (DOGE).

SHIB is the native token of the Shibarium Blockchain and can be used to pay gas fees for transactions. Bone Token is the governance token of the entire Shiba Inu ecosystem, with a limited supply of 250 million tokens. Leash is the reward token of the community, with a limited supply of 107,646 coins. Leash token holders also receive Bone Tokens as rewards and early access to Shiba Inu's Shiboshi NFTs and Metaverse Land Sales.

Shiba Inu's own blockchain, Shibarium, was launched on 16 August 2023. It was developed due to the high gas fees on Ethereum, the low utility of the Shiba Inu Token, the lack of any value other than being a meme coin, and high developmental activity in other projects. The blockchain soon crashed as it witnessed 480 times more traffic than it could handle. However, the website was restored a few days later with the help of Polygon's team.

ShibaSwap is a decentralised exchange (or DEX) that is part of the Shiba Inu ecosystem. It offers a feature known as "Dig", which helps investors stake their tokens and gain liquidity. The exchange is one of the notable upgrades that are influencing the price of SHIB.

The Shiba Inu project also includes a metaverse component that integrates SHIB and other ecosystem tokens, including the Shiboshi NFT collection. The Shibaverse will consist of a virtual world with 100,595 digital land plots.

Frequently asked questions