Shiba Inu is one of the most popular meme cryptos, together with Dogecoin and now Tamadoge. However, will it ever be worth an entire dollar?
Designed as a knowing nod to the meme coin DOGE, SHIB became coveted by investors and major crypto exchanges – with some like Binance and Coinbase acting quick to list this small-cap altcoin. After that mania, SHIB remains some 82% adrift from its all-time high value of $0.000086.
What would it take for Shiba Inu to surge to reach $1? And is it even possible?
The ‘Dogecoin Killer’
On the surface, it is not surprising that SHIB experienced its first parabolic surge in value in early May 2021. That period was characterized by the minting of lots of meme tokens that were perfectly designed to emulate the success of Dogecoin and rally similarly to AMC Entertainment and GameStop on Wall Street.
During that time, there was a flurry of Dogecoin-themed tributes, and imitations, which arrived on the market. Most of the creators also integrated DOGE cheerleader Elon Musk into their newly minted coins.
With the surge of assets like Baby Doge Coin (BabyDoge), Shiba Predator (QOM), Dogelon Mars (ELON), and Samoyedcoin (SAMO), investors have lots of options when it comes to investing in meme-based assets. Yet, one year later, the only coin that has come close to possessing the staying power of Dogecoin seems to be Shiba Inu.
Currently, it ranks in the top 20 in terms of crypto market cap. No other meme coin outside DOGE and SHIB ranks inside the top 100 although Tamadoge seems to be on the rise currently.
So what makes Shiba Inu special? Why did Binance and Coinbase move to list the asset that quickly?
Despite first reaching prominence in May 2021, Shiba Inu was developed on the Ethereum blockchain in August 2020. The asset’s developer is fully anonymous, and the terms of its developments are still uncertain. The only purpose Shiba Inu was thought to serve was to become the ‘Dogecoin killer’, although that is possibly meant to be a joke more than a threat.
The SHIB Ecosystem Overview
Notably, the Shiba Inu network features more than only SHIB: there are several other cryptos including BONE and LEASH. While LEASH is majorly limited, with only 107,000 tokens in circulation, BONE, as Shiba Inu’s governance token, has a bigger volume of 250,000,000 tokens.
Critically, SHIB has 999.99 trillion tokens in its supply, making it far more common than DOGE’s current circulation of around 133 billion tokens. Nonetheless, it is worth stating that in May 2021, half of Shiba Inu’s supply of tokens was sent to Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum co-founder.
Buterin then decided to burn 90% of his tokens and donate the remainder, causing SHIB’s circulating supply to drop to 589 trillion.
As Shiba Inu’s price history indicates, the crypto has never even come close to one cent, let alone challenging $1. Circulating supply plays an integral role in determining the low price. Due to the trillions of SHIB currently in circulation, there is no scarcity to deliver a higher value of the asset, despite the coin now ranking higher than more expensive tokens like ATOM, AVAX, and LINK.
In terms of practical use, Shiba Inu has virtually zero utility. The asset just exists to be the world’s most prominent meme token, meaning that it is powered mainly by market sentiment and pre-existing crypto cycles.
Nevertheless, SHIB’s popularity cannot be understated, and the positive sentiment towards the coin has already seen some exponential growth from 2021 and all through 2022. The crypto staged an improbable comeback to rally in late October last year, SHIB was also adopted by many retail outlets like GameStop, enabling users to make purchases using SHIB in-store.
These feats are improbable for meme tokens developed in Dogecoin’s wake, and they serve as a reminder that it is not always wise to write the particular meme coin off entirely.
Might Shiba Inu Ever Make It To $1?
So, could Shiba Inu make it to ever reach $1? This answer is almost certainly not – or, at least, not with current circulation levels.
Bitcoin’s current market value, which normally ranges within the $10,000s, is pushed by the coin’s fixed scarcity of having a maximum supply of 21,000,000 tokens that can ever get minted. At about 589 trillion tokens, SHIB’s market cap would need to be $589 trillion to reach a coin value of $1.
Taking into consideration that Motley Fool recently reported that the total global wealth stands at about $500 trillion, this is a mind-blowing figure to come to terms with. Nevertheless, should Shiba Inu’s circulation drops drastically, like when Vitalik Buterin burned 50% of the coin’s total supply, increased scarcity may impact the coin’s value.
For investors, there are several other heartening signs. SHIB’s creation on the Ethereum blockchain means that it is far more accessible than other small-cap meme tokens, and it has paved the way for the likes of Coinbase and Binance to add the asset to their respective options with relative ease.
SHIB Adoption May Increase Despite The Low Value
With such considerable levels of adoption, it appears that investor sentiment has leveraged lots of usability for SHIB, and the fact that stores are starting to accept the crypto means that some form of utility has been forged for the coin.
As for the path to $1, here is an in-depth look at a more logical circulation level. The closest asset to Shiba Inu with regards to market cap and proximity to a $1 value is Polygon (MATIC). MATIC has a value of $0.85 at the time of publication.
The coin’s circulating supply is $7.44 billion. Using that as an indicator, it would mean that SHIB’s circulating supply has to drop to nearly 100,000th of its current level to record the same price in the current crypto market.
For those investors who think that cryptos have lots of potentials, there is a possibility that a new crypto bull market will help develop a strong market-wide rally that will drag more prices upwards. However, in terms of growth, it is quite rare for an established asset to rally 100,000% in that manner.
SHIB Remains A Coin To Consider
Although Shiba Inu is an outstanding example of a meme coin success story, SHIB’s 589 trillion tokens circulating supply has rendered the notion of a rally to $1 all but impossible – barring a sudden shrinking of the coins in circulation.
Despite all that, a wave of positive sentiment has forged a layer of utility for the token. Investors might find that SHIB may continue to build momentum in the long term, making it one of the most promising and highly sustainable meme-based investment options.
