What is Shiba Inu (SHIB)?

Shiba Inu is an ERC20 token founded in August 2020 by an anonymous person or group named Ryoshi. Based on a famous meme featuring the Japanese dog breed, Shiba Inu is widely considered to be an altcoin to Dogecoin.

• A decentralised community called SHIBArmy maintains and develops Shiba Inu.

• Like its competitor Dogecoin, Shiba Inu is intentionally abundant, with one quadrillion tokens released into circulation at its launch.

• The Shiba Inu ecosystem consists of three types of tokens: SHIB, LEASH and BONE.

• The Shiba Inu price reached its all-time high of €0.00008845 on October 28, 2021.

What is Shiba Inu?

An alternative coin (altcoin) to Dogecoin, the Ethereum-based Shiba Inu is another dog-themed, meme cryptocurrency and was created by an anonymous developer or a group of developers by the name of Ryoshi in August 2020. Both Shiba Inu and Dogecoin were launched as jokes based on a famous meme featuring the Japanese dog breed Shiba Inu. Both have since become popular cryptocurrencies and are just two of the dozens of dog-themes cryptos that have popped up since. 

Shiba Inu became popular soon after its launch due to receiving attention from notable celebrities on Twitter, including Elon Musk and Vitalik Buterin. In fact, for a while it was thought that Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, was behind Shiba Inu, a rumour he officially denied in 2021.

SHIB is an ERC20 token and 40% of its total supply has already been burned to promote the token’s success and stability. The project has also set out to introduce the SHIBA INU community to NFTs and has already launched its own decentralised exchange known as the ShibaSwap. Al Shiba Inu metaverse is also in the works

How does Shiba Inu work?

Shiba Inu is stored on the decentralised Ethereum blockchain, meaning that the Shiba Inu currency is managed by an anonymous community and not by a central financial authority like a bank. Community is, in fact, at the heart of Shiba Inu. Its very foundation rests on the question  “what if a crypto project was 100% run by its community?” An informal, decentralised group of developers and enthusiasts known as the SHIBArmy runs and maintains the Shiba Inu ecosystem.

Shiba Inu and the metaverse

To further foster a sense of community, play and collaboration, the Shiba Inu developers launched a metaverse powered by non-fungible tokens (NFTs), where lovers of the coin can buy plots of virtual land, interact with the community and develop their own projects. Users who own land in the Shiba Inu metaverse can generate passive income, play to earn and receive other in-game rewards. SHIB is used as a minting token to create new land, and Shiba Inu’s other tokens - BONE, a governance token, and LEASH, a staking token - can also be used in the metaverse.

How to buy Shiba Inu?

You can buy Shiba Inu through cryptocurrency exchanges like Bitpanda using fiat currencies, e.g. euros or U.S. dollars. It’s a good idea first to get familiar with the SHIB price history and the current exchange rate. Once purchased, your Shiba Inu investment can be viewed and accessed in a digital wallet similar to a banking app. You then have the option to hold on to your SHIB or sell it again via the exchange. 

Shiba Inu price history

Like other cryptocurrencies, Shiba Inu is considered a highly volatile asset. Its price has fluctuated through highs and lows throughout its existence, and there’s no way to make a guaranteed SHIB price prediction. As always, it’s important to do your own research before investing in crypto.

Shiba Inu’s all-time low dates back to September 1, 2020, at €0.000000000082, while its all-time high took place a little over a year after that, on October 28, 2021, at €0.00008845. Shiba Inu’s year was certainly 2021: the memecoin saw quite a steady increase during October, followed by a steep fall in the following months. Currently, Shiba Inu is trading at an average daily high of €0.00001135 and an average daily low of €0.00000939.

How to use Shiba Inu?

Shiba Inu’s main use case is as a payment method for goods and services. Severalbigger companies and brands have already stated that they accept SHIB as a payment method. Gucci recently started to accept crypto payments in selected US stores, AMC Entertainment announced its decision to embrace Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, but also Chipotle, Shopify, Balenciaga and many more. SHIB can also be used for staking on the Shiba Inu ecosystem and to mint land in the Shiba metaverse.