Origin story
The token was born on August 2020 by an anonymous individual or group called Ryoshi. It seemed to have taken a page out of Bitcoin (BTC) and Satoshi Nakamoto, also an anonymous individual. SHIB is an alternative coin (altcoin) of Dogecoin (DOGE), which is an altcoin of BTC. The mascot of the token is a Japanese dog breed, Shiba Inu, which helped it achieve “meme” status, partly explaining its immense popularity in the crypto world.
But what is actually SHIB? In essence, it is a decentralized community-built token launched on the Ethereum blockchain network, and it was supposed to be a “DOGE killer.” A coin that will overtake DOGE in popularity, serve the same function, and have more advanced capabilities. SHIB is an ERC-20 token created in the Shiba Inu ecosystem, a place for all Shiba Inu dog lovers to gather, discuss the breeding of the dogs, and everything in between.
The ecosystem itself is open-source, with the capability of having decentralized applications (dApps) built, along with the creation of smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. Moreover, SHIB is used as a purchasing means inside the ecosystem.
Shiba tokens introduction
SHIB is not the only token in the Shiba Inu ecosystem, there is a total of four tokens that you must know about.
- SHIB is the first and central token of the ecosystem, designed to be used for payment, with the burn function being introduced (read more under new developments)
- BONE is the utility token for the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform ShibaSwap; it is also a governance token and will be used as gas on the new Shibarium update
- LEASH is the token that will be used for innovation and getting an early start on a new project (such as SHIB YARD NFTs)
- TREAT is the reward token for SHIBA holders
SHIB new developments
In January 2023, the team behind SHIB announced an upcoming release of a layer-2 network, built on top of Ethereum, dubbed Shibarium. The aim of the upgrade is to minimize costs and increase transaction speeds without actually sharing the exact number of transactions per second. Furthermore, no official release date has been shared with the public, as the developers are looking to develop layer-2 properly and take as much time as they need to do so.
Shibarium will be a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) layer-2 blockchain that will be operated and secured by validators and delegators, which will stake their tokens and get back a yield for doing so. As a result of staking, the validators, and delegators will receive the BONE token, the governance token for the decentralized exchange ShibaSwap. They will also receive the TREAT token.
The biggest news regarding Shibarium revolves around the replacement of the Burn Portal, a burning mechanism that incentivizes users to burn (destroy) their tokens. Still, it was not required, only voluntary. After Shibarium officially launches, all transactions on the network will require an amount of SHIB to the burned, thus putting deflationary pressure on the token, a long-awaited request by the SHIB community. The announcement by the SHIB team described the new feature succinctly:
“By implementing this feature, burning $SHIB tokens per transaction will be reflected in the total token supply as we hope it will have a significant impact on the circulating amount of the $SHIB supply over time.”
Meanwhile, supporters of the token are still waiting for the integration of ShibaSwap onto the mainnet. This will improve Liquidity Pools for regular and stable pairs.
On February 26, the team behind SHIB released a Twitter announcement that they had started to accept intake forms for its Shibarium. This update was intended to allow developers to find the best projects and to help developers assist each other in creating new projects.
With all of the news surrounding Shiba Inu, how did the token price respond?
SHIB price action
While SHIB has had a solid 2023, rising 32% year-to-date (YTD), over the past seven days has fallen by 13.53%. The announcement around Shibarium helped fuel the rally; however, the pain in the broader crypto markets caused by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also impacted SHIB.
SHIB price YTD. Source: CoinMarketCap
Moreover, the bearish move in SHIB started on February 27, when Lookonchain tweeted that an address transferred 182 billion SHIB tokens to Crypto.com and Gemini. The worth at that time was close to $2.3 million, with the intent of probably selling the tokens. Usually, when such large transfers occur, we see downward pressure on SHIB price.
Will Shibarium hype increase the price of SHIB?
Analysis of the on-chain metrics for SHIB indicates potentially positive movement for SHIB in the near term. Namely, per CryptoQuant, SHIB exchange reserves were decreasing, signaling less selling pressure. Next, the number of active addresses increased, suggesting the network grew steadily. SHIB’s exchange inflow increased considerably, based on the data available for February, thanks to data from Santiment, predicting a bearish move in price.
SHIB exchange inflows data until February 2023. Source: Santiment
Despite all of the data showing either a positive or negative movement in price action, the overall sentiment regarding SHIB’s future in the crypto community is positive. The fact that new updates are being prepared, which will allow more dApps to be built on top of it, makes the future of the coin seem much brighter.
SHIB in the Metaverse
According to the developers, the natural progression of SHIB is its entry into the metaverse. The promise is that SHIB in the metaverse will offer an unforgettable immersive experience allowing users to explore, learn and interact with the entire ecosystem in new and exciting ways. The epicenters of the activity will be called “HUBs,” and there will be 11 of them, according to the initial plans. Each HUB will offer special attractions that can only be experienced in the center. Rewards for taking part in these activities will include passive income, in-game resources, and the ability to have your own space in the SHIB metaverse.
Allegedly, all four of the tokens in the ecosystem will play some role in the entire metaverse experience but will be slowly rolled out.
Conclusion
Despite starting its life as a meme coin that was supposed to overtake the “top dog” meme coin DOGE, SHIB seems to be developing a new life. With the Shibarium update, the token seems set on moving away from the “meme status” and into a new life as an exciting crypto project that offers utility to its holders.
For those looking to get into a project offering deflationary tokenomics, metaverse, dApps, and smart contracts, a dedicated DeFi platform, and much more, SHIB seems to be the best bet. However, as investing in crypto is highly speculative, we suggest you do your own research.
