The cryptocurrency ecosystem is getting more exciting by the day with the entrance of new and multi-versatile crypto projects. One of the most recent additions to the more than 5,000 existing cryptocurrencies is the animal-themed cryptocurrency called Shiba Inu.
Shiba Inu which is named after a Japanese dog breed joins the list of other animal-themed cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin, and Monacoin.
Brief history of Shiba Inu
Shiba Inu, as mentioned earlier, was inspired by the success of Dogecoin, a popular meme coin that rose to stardom after it was hyped by various crypto enthusiasts including Elon Musk.
The animal-themed ‘Dogecoin killer’ was launched in August 2020, by an anonymous founder who goes by the name Ryoshi. Specifically, the primary aim of the token is to challenge Dogecoin and related ERC-20 tokens built on the Ethereum blockchain.
Unlike most crypto projects which are designed to be scarce, Shiba Inu, is perhaps the highest supplied cryptocurrency with approximately 400 trillion of the total one quadrillion SHIB token in circulation.
With about half of the entire SHIIB token in circulation locked in Uniswap – a decentralised finance (DeFi) Protocol – the creator subsequently sent the remaining half, which was reportedly worth approximately $1 billion to Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s Co-founder.
According to Ryoshi, the purpose for transferring half of the SHIB token to Buterin was for safekeeping. However, a significant portion of the token was later donated by Buterin to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, with the remainder being “burned”.
This singular act was later tagged as “misleading” as investors were made to believe that Buterin was also an investor in the project.
To prevent investors from losing interest due to distrust, the SHIB white paper was eventually modified to clarify that Buterin’s donation was intentional and beneficial to the coin’s scalability. Now that we have an insight into its back story, let’s further describe Shiba Inu.
What is Shiba Inu?
Shiba Inu, like the majority of the animal-themed (meme) cryptocurrency, is a decentralised ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain. However, while it started out as a mere utility meme token for the ERC-20 network, Shibu Inu has since evolved into a vibrant ecosystem.
the platform’s ultimate goal, according to its Whitepaper, is to create an ecosystem comprised of at least three utility tokens with varying supplies. Currently, the three available tokens within the Shiba ecosystem include SHIB (the ecosystem core token), alongside LEASH, and BONE tokens, with a total supply of 107,646 tokens and 250,000,000 tokens, respectively.
To validate its goal of creating a dynamic ecosystem, Shibaswap – a decentralised exchange – was established to facilitate cryptocurrency exchange and yield farming. Specifically, token holders can ‘dig’ (provide liquidity), ‘bury’ (stake tokens), and ‘fetch’ (retrieve tokens from other ERC-20 networks like Uniswap and Sushiswap) on the DEX platform.
Although Shiba Inu is built as a fork of Dogecoin, its biggest difference lies in the underlying blockchain infrastructure. While Shiba Inu is hosted on Ethereum, Dogecoin, on the other hand, has its own native blockchain.
How does Shiba Inu work?
Shiba Inu is an ERC-20 token and, as such, works in the same manner as any other token of its kind. While this further implies that Shiba Inu, like other ERC-20 token projects, is created using ERC-20 smart contracts standards, it also means that it can be traded against any other tokens within the host blockchain ecosystem.
Shiba Inu is able to distinguish itself from other ERC-20 tokens by owning its own DEX platform, ShibaSwap, which facilitates token exchange within its ecosystem. As a result, the native DEX platform places Shiba Inu with other DeFi ecosystems built on Ethereum, implying that it has greater functionality than the typical token inside the community.
Furthermore, the platform, through its incubator program supports developers or groups of talented individuals it dubbed “ShibArmy” in their endeavour to build remarkable projects.
Specifically, through the Shiba Inu Incubator Program, the platform provides token holders with the required toolset to actualise their inspiration and unique perspective. By doing this, Shiba Inu is providing an alternative to what it described as ecosystems with “preconceived limits and regulations”.
Shiba Inu native token – SHIB
Like every decentralised blockchain project, Shiba Inu makes use of a native token known as SHIB which, according to the platforms’ official website, is a decentralised experiment.
Notably, SHIB is the first token to be listed and incentivised on ShibaSwap – Shiba Inu’s proprietary DEX. The ERC-10 is used to facilitate trading activities such as yield farming, swapping, and liquidity pooling, among others.
SHIB token is also used to facilitate the payment of ‘WOOF return’ through the network’s acclaimed sophisticated and innovative passive reward system.
Ultimately, Shiba Inu is still in a critical stage, with so much experimentation going on, and it is only a matter of time before it can prove itself worthy of the label “Dogecoin killer”.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.