What is shiba inu coin? Is there anything real behind its blistering rally, or is it pure hype?

Shiba Inu dog. Getty Images
While most altcoins were sold Wednesday, shiba Inu continued to set new records.

The meme token has seen a 71% increase in value over the last month and is poised to surpass dogecoin as the number 10 most popular crypto spot.

Shiba inu was established in August 2020. It now has 1 quadrillion coins in circulated.

Subscribe to our daily newsletter 10 Things Before The Opening Bell.

Altcoin season is back, but most are selling off Wednesday. One unsuspecting frontrunner continues setting new records: shiba Inu.

The meme token, which seems to have sprung from nowhere, now wants to takeover dogecoin to become the 10th largest cryptocurrency asset in the ecosystem.

According to CoinGecko data, Shiba Inu gained nearly 71% in the last month, as it surged up to 45% Wednesday. It is the 11th largest crypto asset, with a market capitalization of $30.9 million.

What is shiba Inu?

The ethereum-based Shiba Inu alternative to dogecoin is a meme token that has been favored by Mark Cuban and Elon Musk. It calls itself a dogecoin-killer and features the Shiba Inu dog mascot.

Insider was told by Chris Kline (COO and co-founder) that "I don’t know if the market has room for multiple meme coins." "Is it a zero sum game?"

Ryoshi, a man who wanted to get rid of "rigid social structures, traditional mindsets" in August 2020, founded the token. According to the 28-page whitepaper, or in Shiba Inu's case, woofpaper, Ryoshi had a goal to create the token.

Shiba Inu instead wanted to "experiment in decentralized spontaneous community-building" and give power back to "average people."

Hence, why is it rallying?

There are a couple of reasons. There are two reasons for the price rise.

Shiba Inu recently released a number of non-fungible tokens, called "shiboshis", that are written on the Ethereum blockchain. Some of these tokens feature shiba Inus sporting a party hat and laser eyes.

In May, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of ethereum, donated 50 trillion (then approximately $1 billion) to an Indian crypto-based COVID-19 relief program.

It's not just the Shib Army rallying behind the coin.

John Wu, president and CEO of Ava Labs, the company behind altcoin avalanche told Insider that "The crypto universe has many coins that represent different use cases and themes."

He said that meme tokens are driven by culture and represent a underlying theme or movement rather than a special technical use case.

Does that mean that shiba Inu is not suitable for any real purpose?

It's difficult to say, at least for the moment. Wu stated that shiba Inu was not designed for sophisticated uses like lending, lending, trading or gaming, but it is still trying to be useful.

Wu stated that shiba Inu was written on the Ethereum blockchain. This could indicate it may have more advanced smart contracting capabilities. Shibaswap is an example of such a platform, which was launched in July 2021 and aims to offer utility for the token in terms staking or rewards.

It's worth noting, however, that shiba Inu was not designed to be limited in supply. Currently, there are 1 quadrillion coins in circulation. Bitcoin is limited at 21 million.

What is the cost of a shiba-inu?

Dogecoin is $0.244775 cheap. Wait until you see how expensive shiba Inu. It trades at $0.00006289. The cost of 1,000,000 shiba Inu coins is only $62.89.

We know that a nominal price is not the best way to determine the value of a cryptocurrency. It's not the current use cases but the potential of the asset. It's also a great idea to have a supportive community.