The cryptocurrency industry is a fascinating place. What are the odds that one coin could ascend to prominence as a joke, only to be threatened by another “joke” coin? Well, the story of Dogecoin and SHIBA Inu (SHIB Coin), the Doge-Killer, is along those lines. Dogecoin started as a joke. Its developers deliberately gave it a humorous tinge to poke fun at the wild speculation in cryptocurrencies around 2013. As it turns out, enough people took the joke seriously. Dogecoin has risen to a market capitalisation of $85 billion in this crypto bull market. Its basic protocol is quite similar to Litecoin and features the face of the Shiba Inu dog from the “Doge” meme as its logo and namesake. The Doge mania has caught on, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk fueling the hype on Twitter and even on a recent episode of Saturday Night Live. Its value is a product of market hype and speculative investment. SHIB coin may have something to say about that.
What is the SHIB Coin?
It sucks to lose in your own game. Dogecoin is getting competition from something that feels eerily familiar. Shiba Inu is a cryptocurrency that’s similarly themed to Dogecoin. However, the Shiba Inu token seeks to do much more than its doggy-themed counterpart. Since the token uses Ethereum’s robust network, the token plans to become a vibrant DeFi ecosystem driven by its token. SHIB coin is the latest joke in town. The Ethereum-based token claims to be an even better joke, a “DOGE Killer” of sorts.
It has got excellent traction, with the OKEx exchange becoming the first major exchange to list the coin in the past week. The Shiba Inu–inspired meme coin launched in 2020 and took its name from the dog breed that is the mascot for Dogecoin. Pretty incredible, right? The Shiba Inu token, the 1st token launched in the Shiba ecosystem, can be bought on Uniswap. 50% of the total supply was put onto the decentralised exchange Uniswap by the Shiba founders, and the rest was burned in honour of Vitalik Buterin – an Ethereum visionary. This is an initial DEX offering (IDO), where the founders release the token via a decentralised exchange. A single SHIB is worth about $.000029 at press time in mid-May 2021. This figure may sound insignificant, but it is a significant appreciation from where it was just a week ago.
Chinese traders have fueled its value after the OKEx listing, and crypto enthusiasts are starting to pay attention. Its market capitalisation has shot past $10 billion. This rise is a testament to the power of crypto traders working in droves. The Gamestop stock mania may have only been the tip of the iceberg. As a result, small traders, in their masses, have more market pull than individual whales. The popularity of the SHIB is a direct consequence of Dogecoin. The era of “meme coins” may be here. Most traders who purchase SHIB are not doing it because of some underlying value it holds.
How is SHIB coin affecting the ETH-Gas Fees?
SHIB coin tokenomics are exactly the standard for scarcity. There is one quadrillion SHIB coin in existence. The term “Gas” refers to the cost of a transaction on the Ethereum blockchain. Gas prices fluctuate depending on network congestion. The higher the demand, the higher the Gas fees go. They reflect the computational power necessary to process requests or transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. The Ethereum blockchain needs Gas to run smoothly. The high gas prices over the past couple of months indicate high transaction volumes. If this coin is to take off, there will be a lot to purchase.
Therefore, its prices will not likely touch the $1 mark in the foreseeable future. Still, not to mention, the token has gained over 20X percent in one week. The exchange listings have had a remarkable effect on trade volumes. Being an ERC20 token, though, withdrawing profits from exchanges is dank expensive since Gas fees are prohibitive—especially for retailers. The average transaction fee, or Gas, is close to $64, a new all-time high.
A surge in the popularity of meme coins has taken up additional amounts of block space, causing large gas spikes. Despite the spike, five of the top ten trading pairs on Uniswap are meme coins. Best crypto casinos like BC.Game have already listed SHIB Coin on their platform!
SHIB vs Dogecoin
The founder of Shiba Inu is little known, going by the name Ryoshi. He argues that the SHIB coin is the Doge Killer because it is more community-driven than its predecessor. He asserts that SHIB is on a trajectory to surpass Dogecoin soon. The coin may sound ridiculous to traditional investors, but it has the usual talking points of a cryptocurrency project. Ryoshi’s Woofpaper (whitepaper) lays out a “Shiba Inu Ecosystem,” which includes the ShibSwap exchange and a decentralised Shib Army of developers, coin holders, and fans. The mania has taken off in Reddit platforms and Tik Tok. If this sounds familiar, it is because Reddit relies on the same demographic.
Conclusion
A war of meme coins. Can it get any better? Crypto is a gift that keeps giving. These coins prove that anything can be valuable should enough people believe them to be. Elon Musk has promoted Dogecoin pretty well. Will he do the same for the SHIB coin? His revered status in the meme culture is noteworthy. His actions single-handedly fueled the price of Doge. Notably, the prices of Doge rose over 50X in the past few months. Cryptocurrency exchanges will continue to list this token. The decision to purchase SHIB is personal. Will it be another fad? Can it supplant Dogecoin and become the most significant meme coin? The answers to these questions lie in the cryptocurrency community and the Shib coin team.
