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Digital currencies began in 2008 with the invention of Bitcoin — money that could be created, traded and tracked on the Internet.
Since then, “cryptocurrencies” have multiplied. Some have been designed to beat Bitcoin in ease of use, cost and speed. Others serve as tokens for new versions of the blockchain, a method of secure online tracking and bookkeeping that makes crypto possible.
Other new crypto coins were created just for fun. Such a one is Shiba Inu.
Furry Finance: How Shiba Inu Was Created
Named for an adorable Japanese canine, the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency was born as a mockery of Dogecoin, which was designed as an imitation of Bitcoin. When entrepreneur Elon Musk used Twitter to boost the cause of Dogecoin, its value skyrocketed. Then an anonymous individual or group — going by the name Ryoshi — arrived in August 2020, with Shiba Inu, a.k.a the “Dogecoin killer.”
Both Dogecoin and Shiba Inu are “meme coins,” designed to represent hot trends or ideas. Shiba Inu followed Dogecoin into the spotlight in late 2021, when Musk tweeted out a few pictures of Floki, his real Shiba Inu. With nearly 70 million followers, his particular Twitter feed was making heavy waves in the financial and crypto markets.
Shiba Inu Begins Spreading Like Wildfire
Crypto money is measured by total market value and price. These metrics can and do swing wildly from day to day, depending on the fleeting enthusiasm of traders. Nothing backs crypto except its prospective value as a medium of exchange. Since such value depends on marketing and technical innovation, and new digital money is constantly being created, dabbling investors are taking on significant risk.
A Good Year in 2021
The numbers climbed steadily for Shiba Inu through 2021. The metrics peaked in October of that year when the price of a Shiba Inu coin reached $.0008, a rise of 1000% over the previous 25 days. For a brief period, Shiba Inu had a larger market valuation than Dogecoin and had reached the top 10 of all cryptocurrencies in total market capitalization.
New Use Cases
The use case for Shiba Inu seemed to be improving. Traders were petitioning for Robinhood, a popular mobile trading platform, to make the coin available to buyers and sellers. A series of 10,000 Shiboshis, graphic designs representing the now-famous breed, came on the market. These non-fungible tokens are further spreading the coin’s popularity.
Going to the Dogs
Shiba Inu has since fallen off the highs it made in October 2021. If the hype surrounding the coin fades, the coin may never return to those levels. The general decline in the market for crypto, including leading coins Bitcoin and Ethereum, also chilled the price for SHIB through January 2022.
But if the coin gains utility, its price will improve. Positive signs emerged later in the fall. Shiba Inu was offered for trading on the Kraken cryptocurrency platform, and the coin was also accepted for payments by Newegg, an online computer retailer.
Predictions
Several websites in the business of Shiba Inu coin price prediction are optimistic. CryptoPredictions.com, for example, sees Shiba Inu reaching $.000088 by the third quarter of 2022 and $.0001 by 2023, representing a gain of more than 150% over the calendar year 2022.
Wallet Investor predicts a rise to $.0000581 by the end of 2022 and a gain through 2023 that would bring Shiba Inu above the peak value achieved in October 2021.
Going further out, Digital Coin, another crypto market site, offers an average price of $.0000659 in 2025 and $.000143 in 2030. PricePrediction is the most optimistic of all, claiming that Shiba Inu may reach the important milestone of $.001 by 2030.
Trader, Take Heed: Should You Invest?
If accurate, these predictions imply a return of several thousand percent in the value of the Shiba Inu coin in just a few years. On paper, that kind of return certainly outruns anything possibly offered by stocks, bonds or just about any other kind of investment.
But cryptocurrency, and meme coins, in particular, are subject to financially destructive trends for unwary investors. There are fees and costs charged when trading digital currencies and many investors have ended up with nothing after plowing into the latest fraudulent crypto scheme.
It’s fun to predict markets and fascinating to consider the possibilities of digital currency, but the wise move would be to thoroughly research Shiba Inu before throwing any money at it and to never invest what you can’t afford to lose.
Good To Know
There are several alternatives to Shiba Inu that have yet to find widespread hype and may reward patient investors. Samoyedcoin is another dog meme token, designed for use on the Solana payments network. Monacoin, named for a cat character famous in Japan, has been gaining use cases since its invention in 2014.
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