Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) was created as a parody of Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) — which itself was a parody of Bitcoin — back in 2020. Many investors initially dismissed it as a joke, yet it generated millionaire-making gains during the following five years.
Shiba Inu started trading at just $0.00000000051 per token, but it’s now trading at $0.000011. That rally would have turned a $100 investment into about $2.16 million. Let’s see why this little meme coin soared — and if it can surge even higher during the next five years.
Shiba Inu is one of the many tokens minted on the Ethereum blockchain, which supports use of smart contracts to develop decentralized apps (dApps), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and other crypto assets.
Ethereum was once an energy-intensive proof of work (PoW) blockchain that required its tokens to be mined like Bitcoin. But in 2022, it transitioned to a more energy-efficient proof of stake (PoS) mechanism, which simply required tokens to be staked (locked up for interest-like rewards) on its blockchain instead of being mined.
So as an Ethereum-based PoS token, Shiba Inu cannot be mined. Instead, its anonymous founder Ryoshi minted its entire supply of one quadrillion tokens before its launch, then gave 500 trillion of those tokens to Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Buterin subsequently burned (removed from circulation) over 40% of those tokens to tighten up its supply. Since no new tokens can be minted, but they can still be burned, it’s still considered a deflationary token.
Shiba Inu’s near-term future depends on the growth of its developer ecosystem and the willingness of its investors to burn their tokens. The biggest near-term catalyst should be the expansion of Shibarium, its Level 2 blockchain, which offers lower gas (user) fees and higher transaction speeds than Ethereum’s underlying Level 1 blockchain.
Those advantages could increase the utility of its own token and ShibaSwap tokens — like BONE and LEASH — within its own ecosystem. They could also draw in more developers and enhance its network value.
Shiba Inu’s developers also recently launched a metaverse platform with more than 100,000 plots of virtual land. Shiba Inu’s tokens could be used to fund sales of digital land and experiences in this digital world, which could become similar to other metaverse platforms like Decentraland.
