SHIBU INU: CONTENDER FOR DOGECOIN OR JUST ANOTHER FAD?

Shiba Inu is a Japanese hunting dog breed that falls into the small-to-medium breed category. Shiba Inu had no idea they were about to become the centre of a heated debate. At the very least, their breed would have a name. There's another layer to figure out if this cryptocurrency thing is getting too complicated for you to comprehend. There's a new coin out there that, depending on who you believe, is either the next big thing, a blatant Dogecoin killer, or completely worthless. I have to say, there are some pretty extreme viewpoints throughout. That appears to be the case with the Shiba Inu crypto coin. The Dogecoin references come as the cryptocurrency's value has fluctuated since Elon Musk's appearance on Saturday Night Live a few days ago, which was expected to propel Dogecoin to new heights. Perhaps the moon?
The Shiba Inu coin has been around since August 2020, but it has only recently become popular. It is built on the Ethereum platform. The founders claim that on the decentralised exchange ShibaSwap, there will be three flagship tokens: $SHIB for Shiba Inu coins, $LEASH for Leash Dogecoin Killer, and $BONE for Bone, according to the woofpaper (that's cool crypto lingo for whitepaper – you un-cool folks will never understand). “We earned the nickname DOGECOIN KILLER because we have the ability to exponentially outpace the value of Dogecoin without ever crossing the $0.01 mark,” they claim. This is the point that is bothering Dogecoin holders and fans alike—the coin was expected to cross the $1 mark after Musk's SNL appearance provided a significant boost, but instead fell significantly from $0.70 to $0.42 and has been attempting to recover since.

Shiba Inu's circulating supply is currently at 394,796.00B SHIB, according to CoinMarketCap data, and the founders claim that 1,000,000,000,000,000 crypto coins have already been minted. SHB is already listed on a number of exchanges, including Binance. ShibaSwap is Shiba Inu's own decentralised cryptocurrency exchange, allowing buyers to trade Shiba Inu for other cryptocurrencies. At the moment, Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin owns $15 billion worth of Shiba Inu coins, a decision made by the founders to avoid large holdings by other investors, which could cause volatility. If you want to buy Shiba Inu coins in India, you'll have to go through the CoinDCX platform. At the time of writing, the currency was not tradeable on any other platforms, including WazirX and Coinswitch. This is likely to change in the not-too-distant future.

There is no clear answer about the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency's future as of yet. This has been classified as volatile by the majority of analysts. In an interview with Fortune, Ben Caselin, head of research and strategy at cryptocurrency exchange AAX, says, "The hype around meme coins like Shiba...is not a financial, but a social phenomenon." “If you buy today, I'm not sure what the future holds for you. But if you were in a few days ago, yes, you were making money,” says David Hsiao, CEO of cryptocurrency publication Block Journal. He goes on to say that this isn't sustainable and that the vast majority of people will lose money as a result. It will be interesting to see if SHIB can overtake Dogecoin in the coming weeks, or if it will fade away as another joke currency.