Jirapong Manustrong / Getty Images/iStockphoto
The weird world of cryptocurrency got even weirder with the arrival of Shiba Inu. Now among the top 30 or so cryptocurrencies in the world, its staying power is a testament to the might of memes, the contagious nature of investor groupthink and the cuteness of fluffy dogs.
But is the coin that billed itself as the Dogecoin Killer a legit crypto investment opportunity now that it boasts more than 550,000 users? Theres a lot to consider before you can answer that question.
Find Out: Where Does Cryptocurrency Come From?Read: Why Some Money Experts Believe In Bitcoin and Others Dont
Launched in August 2020 by an anonymous person going by the name Ryoshi, Shiba Inu was a challenge to Dogecoin from the very beginning. Its mascot the coins namesake breed of Japanese dog is also the mascot of Dogecoin, which itself was started as a joke based on a viral canine Internet meme.
Like so many other cryptocurrencies, Shiba Inu is based on the Ethereum blockchain. Ryoshi started with a supply of 1 quadrillion tokens thats 1,000 raised to the power of five. Ryoshi then locked half of the tokens in a decentralized finance protocol called Uniswap and burned the other half, worth $1 billion, to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin for safekeeping. Buterin then donated trillions of Shiba Inu coins to India to help stem the spread of COVID-19 it was historys largest cryptocurrency donation before burning 40% of the total supply to a dead wallet.
If you got through the last two paragraphs but have no idea what you just read, investing in Shiba Inu is probably not for you.
See: Mark Cuban Talks Dogecoin: Youve Got To Know Why Youre Investing
Unlike Bitcoin, which is currently trading at around $35,000 per coin, Shiba Inu goes for just a tiny sliver of a penny about $0.000008082 per token. The logic, according to Barrons, is that cheaper coins draw wider audiences. Dogecoin, by comparison, is trading at a much more expensive 26 cents.
Story continues
All that is fine and well, but like everything involving crypto trading, volatility is the name of the game with Shiba Inu. The coin briefly lost half of its value on the day that Buterin made the donation to India. Thats a single-day drop of 50% based purely on investor emotion and reaction to a news story and in the world of crypto, thats not at all unusual.
If you can handle that kind of heat, by all means but keep in mind the nature of the roller coaster youre about to board.
On May 9, Shiba Inu soared to its all-time high of $0.000035. The price almost immediately crashed back down to Earth and less than 10 days later, that number had an extra zero in it, as it does to this day.
Take a Look: What Is the Next Big Cryptocurrency To Explode in 2021?
If you want to look in your digital wallet and see millions, billions or even trillions of something, you wont do better than Shiba Inu but few experts would recommend that as a sound investment strategy.
Crypto, in general, is in a slump right now, particularly Ethereum-based tokens like Shiba Inu and Dogecoin. If that trend reverses course, its perfectly logical to believe that Shiba Inu will be lifted by the tide. In fact, on June 24, an expert writing for FXStreet used convincing logic to predict that Shiba Inu is due for an 80% price increase, and maybe it is. But its just as easy to find experts who predict that the coin of the moment will soon be tossed onto the trash heap of crypto history with the rest of the fallen altcoins.
More From GOBankingRates
Last updated: June 29, 2021
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Is the Shiba Inu Coin the Cryptocurrency You Should Be Watching?
Read the original here:
Is the Shiba Inu Coin the Cryptocurrency You Should Be Watching? - Yahoo Finance
- Crypto()Currency - CryptoCurrency.org - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- Cryptocurrency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- TNW - Stefan Molyneux - Money, Power and Politics The Cryptocurrency Revolution - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- How to Set Up a Ripple (CryptoCurrency) Generating System! - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- Bitcoin / Cryptocurrency - An Extensive FAQ - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- --- The Great Debate --- Bitcoin vs Altcoin @ The CryptoCurrency Convention 4/9/14 - - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- Bryce Weiner @ CryptoCurrency Convention 4/9/14 - - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- Popularcoin @ CryptoCurrency Convention 4/9/14 - Joshua Nold - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- TimeKoin @ CryptoCurrency Convention 4/9/14 - Michael Brown - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- Infinitecoin @ CryptoCurrency Convention 4/9/14 - Loring Small - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- Bitcoin Exchange CryptoRush Loses Millions of BlackCoin Cryptocurrency - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- Brock Pierce, Entrepreneur "FireSide Chat" @ CryptoCurrency Convention NYC - 4/9/14 - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- [OFFICIAL SPONSOR] Nick Spanos, Bitcoin Center NYC @ CryptoCurrency Convention 4/9/14 - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- AuroraCoin @ CryptoCurrency Convention NYC 4/9/14 - David Lio - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- Dogecoin Founder Speaks on the Future of Cryptocurrency - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- As Bitcoin Soars in Value, Alternative Cryptocurrencies ... - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- Florincoin @ CryptoCurrency Convention NYC 4/9/14 - Joe Fiscella - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- DigiByte @ CryptoCurrency Convention NYC 4/9/14 - Jared Tate - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- Digitalcoin @ CryptoCurrency Convention NYC 4/9/14 - Andrew Davidson - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- PotCoin @ CryptoCurrency Convention NYC 4/9/14 - Nick Iversen - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- ZenithCoin @ CryptoCurrency Convention NYC 4/9/14 - Eddie Corral - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- BitAngels Co-Founder, David Johnson @ CryptoCurrency Convention NYC 4/9/14 - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- Australian dogecoin founder speaks on the future of cryptocurrency - April 28th, 2014 [April 28th, 2014]
- Coinnext Cryptocurrency Exchange Coming Soon - Video - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- Cryptocurrency News Round-Up: MtGox Hearing Begins as Bitcoin gets Bloomberg Endorsement - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- mTrader.org - Cryptocurrency Mining System - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- CryptoCurrency - cryptobars commodity Launch! - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- The Mises View: "Taxing Cryptocurrency" | Jeff Deist - Video - May 2nd, 2014 [May 2nd, 2014]
- Coin Pursuit Launches SliceFeeds Interactive Cryptocurrency Network - May 3rd, 2014 [May 3rd, 2014]
- Cryptocurrency | Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis - May 3rd, 2014 [May 3rd, 2014]
- CS 171 Final Project: Cryptocurrency Visualizations - Video - May 3rd, 2014 [May 3rd, 2014]
- Cryptocurrency Explained The Tech Guy 1046 - Video - May 3rd, 2014 [May 3rd, 2014]
- Know How 74 Cryptocurrency - Video - May 4th, 2014 [May 4th, 2014]
- MIT undergrads will each receive $100 in bitcoin - May 5th, 2014 [May 5th, 2014]
- cryptocurrency - Fortune Finance: Hedge Funds, Markets ... - May 8th, 2014 [May 8th, 2014]
- Bitcoin wins US election panel's approval for political donations - May 9th, 2014 [May 9th, 2014]
- CryptoCurrency of the World Unite! - Video - May 9th, 2014 [May 9th, 2014]
- Major Dogecoin Wallet Hacked, Shut Down - May 13th, 2014 [May 13th, 2014]
- Such hack, much sad: Doge Vault reportedly loses $56,000 in heist - May 13th, 2014 [May 13th, 2014]
- BBT Presents: Ode to Cryptocurrency - Video - May 13th, 2014 [May 13th, 2014]
- Scryptify Cryptocurrency Video - Crypto Currency Exchanges - Video - May 13th, 2014 [May 13th, 2014]
- AMD cuts Radeon R9 280 price as inflation woes die down - May 15th, 2014 [May 15th, 2014]
- The Cryptocurrency Certification Consortium - Video - May 15th, 2014 [May 15th, 2014]
- Bitpagar Cryptocurrency - Video - May 16th, 2014 [May 16th, 2014]
- TagPro - Cryptocurrency Juke Session w/ LTB & Counterpary - Video - May 16th, 2014 [May 16th, 2014]
- How to Mine Cryptocurrency Safely - Video - May 16th, 2014 [May 16th, 2014]
- Bunnycoin - Innovative New Cryptocurrency - Video - May 16th, 2014 [May 16th, 2014]
- Jan Irvin on Learning, Statism, Culture, Cryptocurrency and Voluntarism -- Potent News Podcast #1 - Video - May 16th, 2014 [May 16th, 2014]
- Nxt cryptocurrency platform: Proof of Stake mining system - Video - May 18th, 2014 [May 18th, 2014]
- Cryptocurrency Round-Up: Darkcoin Rise Continues; Dogecoin Saved My Life & Bitcoin Explainer Videos - May 19th, 2014 [May 19th, 2014]
- Givecoin.info Announces Partnership with Do A Bit of Good: World's First Charitable Mining Screensaver - May 21st, 2014 [May 21st, 2014]
- Cryptocurrency: Get Mining! - Video - May 22nd, 2014 [May 22nd, 2014]
- Violincoin - The first cryptocurrency for musician - - Video - May 22nd, 2014 [May 22nd, 2014]
- Trollcoin - The Fun Cryptocurrency! - Video - May 22nd, 2014 [May 22nd, 2014]
- Cryptocurrency and Nonprofits with Eric Nakagawa - Video - May 23rd, 2014 [May 23rd, 2014]
- The Cryptocurrency Store - Video - May 23rd, 2014 [May 23rd, 2014]
- The Cryptocurrency Store (Spanish/Espagnol) - Video - May 23rd, 2014 [May 23rd, 2014]
- How To Trade CryptoCurrency: Sign up to a safe and reliable exchange for trading CryptoCurrency - Video - May 23rd, 2014 [May 23rd, 2014]
- UT students to launch cryptocurrency exchange - May 24th, 2014 [May 24th, 2014]
- Videoconferencia Cryptocurrency 201243946 - Video - May 27th, 2014 [May 27th, 2014]
- VideoCharla Jesus Ramos Cryptocurrency - Video - May 27th, 2014 [May 27th, 2014]
- Cryptocurrency Round-Up: Bitcoin Pioneer Dies and Digital Currency's Status in Australia - August 31st, 2014 [August 31st, 2014]
- Bitcoin enthusiasts discuss the cryptocurrency - Video - August 31st, 2014 [August 31st, 2014]
- Make Fast 1.0 up to 10.00 BTC or Any Cryptocurrency REAL CASH - Video - August 31st, 2014 [August 31st, 2014]
- Halcyon cryptocurrency - Video - August 31st, 2014 [August 31st, 2014]
- Selling products / services / fiat money for cryptocurrency - Coinkite PoS Terminal - Video - August 31st, 2014 [August 31st, 2014]
- Selling cryptocurrency to customers - Coinkite PoS Terminal - Video - August 31st, 2014 [August 31st, 2014]
- Cryptocurrency Made Simple - A Plain English Guide to Bitcoins - September 8th, 2014 [September 8th, 2014]
- PotatoCoin - The cryptocurrency for the third world - Video - September 8th, 2014 [September 8th, 2014]
- How To Trade One Kind Of Cryptocurrency For A Different Kind Of Cryptocurrency - Video - September 8th, 2014 [September 8th, 2014]
- How To Fund Your Bleutrade Cryptocurrency Trading Account - Video - September 8th, 2014 [September 8th, 2014]
- How To Open An Account At Bleutrade.com Cryptocurrency Exchange - Video - September 8th, 2014 [September 8th, 2014]
- Cryptocurrency Round-Up: Apple Pay Boosts Bitcoin, Nakamoto Negotiates With Hacker - September 11th, 2014 [September 11th, 2014]
- Qoinpro Cryptocurrency Faucet ok - Video - September 12th, 2014 [September 12th, 2014]
- Weekly Roundup - CEX.IO - Multi-Functional cryptocurrency exchange - Video - September 12th, 2014 [September 12th, 2014]
- TCR #27: Cryptocurrency growth, 9/11 Anniversary, CDC Scandal, Face Your Fears - Video - September 12th, 2014 [September 12th, 2014]
- VanosEnigmA 011 Bitcoin-Comedy BitcoinDog CryptoCurrency-Cat Naughty - Video - September 15th, 2014 [September 15th, 2014]
- WikiLeaks Avoided Bitcoin to Prevent Government 'Destroying' Cryptocurrency - September 16th, 2014 [September 16th, 2014]
- LXC Coin crowdfunds in challenge to Bitcoin - September 16th, 2014 [September 16th, 2014]
- Why Bitcoin Is Poised To Win Big In Las Vegas - September 19th, 2014 [September 19th, 2014]