Shiba Inu is a breed of hunting dogs in Japan and is categorized in the small-to-medium breeds. Little did Shiba Inu know that they’d become the topic of a pretty excitable discussion. At least, their breed’s name would be. If this cryptocurrency thing is getting too complex for you to wrap you head around, there’s another layer for you to figure. There’s a new coin out there that, depending on who you believe, is either the next big thing, is purely a Dogecoin killer or worth absolutely none of your time of money. Pretty extreme opinions all through, have to say. That’s what the Shiba Inu crypto coin seems to be all about. The Dogecoin references come as that crypto has seen valuation fluctuations since Elon Musk’s SNL appearance a few days ago, something that was expected to take Dogecoin to new heights. Maybe the moon?

The Shiba Inu coin has been around since August 2020 but is being talked about only off late. It is based on Ethereum. In the woofpaper (that’s cool crypto lingo for whitepaper – you un-cool folks will never understand), the founders say that on the decentralized exchange ShibaSwap, there will be three flagship tokens: $SHIB for the Shiba Inu coins, $LEASH for the Leash Dogecoin Killer and $BONE for Bone. They say, “we earned the nickname DOGECOIN KILLER because we have the ability to outpace the value of Dogecoin, exponentially, without ever crossing the $0.01 mark”. This particular point is what is bothering the Dogecoin holder and fans alike—the coin was expected to cross the $1 mark after Musk’s SNL appearance provided a big boost, but instead fell significantly from $0.70 to $0.42 and has been attempting to rebound since.

According to the data by CoinMarketCap, the circulating supply of Shiba Inu is currently at 394,796.00B SHIB and the founders say that 1,000,000,000,000,000 crypto coins have already been minted. SHB is listed on multiple exchanges already including Binance. ShibaSwap is the Shiba Inu’s own decentralized exchange for cryptocurrency which lets buyers trade between Shiba Inu and other crypto coins. At this time, Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin holds Shiba Inu coins worth $15 billion, a decision which the founders took to prevent large holdings by other investors which could have led to volatility. In India, if you wish to buy the Shiba Inu coins, you’ll have to use the CoinDCX platform. At this time, the currency isn’t tradeable on other platforms including WazirX or Coinswitch, at the time of writing this. This is expected to change in the near future.

There really isn’t a clear answer yet about the future of the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency. Most analysts have labeled this as volatile. “The hype around meme coins such as Shiba…is not a financial, but a social phenomenon,” says Ben Caselin, head of research and strategy at cryptocurrency exchange AAX, while speaking with Fortune. “If you’re buying today, I don’t know where the future lies for you. But if you were in a few days ago, yes, you’re definitely making money,” says David Hsiao, CEO of crypto magazine Block Journal. He goes on to say that this isn’t sustainable and most people will lose money. It remains to be seen whether SHIB can trump Dogecoin in the coming weeks, or fizzles out as another joke currency.

Shiba Inu Crypto Coin: Is It Really The Dogecoin Killer Or Just Another Meme Coin And A Hustle?

The Shiba Inu coin has been around since August 2020 but is being talked about only off late. SHB is listed on multiple exchanges already including Binance.