Shiba Inu — a crypto token widely known as a joke coin or “meme” — has thrust Dogecoin into the top ten most valuable digital assets (judging by market value).
And for its commendable efforts, Shiba Inu token’s valuation soared to nearly $40 billion, exceeding that of Dogecoin (the token’s supposed cousin and inspiration).
It’s now safe to say that cryptocurrency has officially gone to the dogs.
By midday on Monday, Shibu token’s value went up by 10% — and had already doubled in valuation in the past few weeks. Wednesday’s trading frenzy over the digital token is responsible for the massive 66% gain.
Shiba Inu is a high-risk bet
But despite the spectacular gains, each token costs just a mere fraction of a cent.
To paint a clear picture: If you bought $1,000 worth of Shiba tokens two months ago, your 20 million coins are now worth approximately $9,000.
Shiba Inu, like all other digital tokens, is not ideal for commercial transactions. Why? Because of cryptocurrencies’ volatile and highly speculative nature.
Experts consider the token a high-risk bet, warning investors against investing in Shiba — saying its leadership is unknown, and the token has little to no functional use.
Lee Reiners, Duke University School of Law’s lecturer and crypto critic, said the recent meteoric rise of the Shiba Inu token is not a surprise. “This is what happens when you have massive speculation in assets with no intrinsic value”.
Shiba is the current white-hot crypto
Shiba Inu token’s story is almost similar to that of Bitcoin and GameStop.
This year, Bitcoin’s valuation doubled, then massively dipped in between. Now the popular cryptocurrency goes for about a staggering $63,000 a coin.
In early January, GameStop stock’s value was priced at $17 before skyrocketing to a staggering $483 per share. Currently, it’s trading at a consistent $180 per share.
While Shiba Inu is the current white-hot crypto, it’s impossible to trade it through traditional brokers just yet. Through a petition, investors are pushing for Robinhood to allow trading of Shiba (as much as it has allowed Dogecoin and other crypto tokens).
Vladimir Tenev, CEO of Shiba Inu, last week assured investors that the company is planning to introduce new coins.
But before doing so, Tenev says they want to ensure introducing new coins will be done “in a way that’s safe for customers and in line with regulatory requirements”.
Imposing stricter regulations on crypto seems inevitable, but it’s unclear how that will happen. Meanwhile, Gary Gensler, SEC chair, compares crypto to “the Wild West”.
If you want to invest in SHIB, you might be interested in automated cryptocurrency trading robots such as Bitcoin Profit, Bitcoin Revolution and Bitcoin Trader.
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