Shiba Inu, Dogecoin Dominate Crypto Trading In India

Meme coins such as Elon Musk-backed Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have become very popular in the Indian market in the last six months, according to data from various cryptocurrency exchanges.

Shiba Inu, named after a Japanese breed of dog, is a decentralised meme token that was founded in the year 2020 by an anonymous person called Ryoshi. Dogecoin, whose symbol depicts the same dog breed, started off as a joke in 2013 by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus to make fun of cryptocurrencies at the time.

In the last six months, over $1.2 billion worth Dogecoin has been traded on WazirX. Shiba Inu saw a volume equivalent to $7.5 billion. In comparison, Bitcoin’s volume has been worth $13.8 billion and Ether has been $287 million, according to data shared by Nischal Shetty, founder and chief executive officer CEO at WazirX and member, Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC).

Similarly, Dogecoin contributed 13.76 per cent to CoinSwitch Kuber’s overall trading volume, followed by Ethereum at 6.06 per cent and Bitcoin at 6.04 per cent, the cryptocurrency exchange told Outlook Money. Shiba Inu is not listed on CoinSwitch Kuber yet.

According to Coinmarketcap.com, Dogecoin ranks ninth in terms of market capitalisation at $36,485,655,324 and Shiba Inu is at No. 10 with a market cap of $35,884,023,792, on November 3, at the time of writing the article. These two meme cryptocurrencies have been swapping places in rankings quite frequently since last week.

At the time of writing this article on November 3, Shiba Inu was trading at $0.00006394, while Dogecoin was at $0.2732, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Should You Invest?

But should this lead you to invest in them? “It’s too early to comment on the utility and promise of these meme coins. Dogecoin mania is driven entirely by Musk’s whims and fancies. Shiba Inu is touted as ‘The Dogecoin Killer’ by Shiba Army fans. The price duel between these two dog-themed coins is nothing more than a fun spectacle for retail investors who are in this game just for fun,” says Sharat Chandra, a blockchain and emerging tech evangelist.

“Choosing which cryptocurrency to invest in has logically similar criteria as choosing which stock to invest in. While use case, adoption, community, and other fundamental factors are very important, in the short term, traders are more driven by momentum and sentiment. What we are seeing presently in the case of Shiba Inu is that demand is driven almost exclusively by sentiment and detached from fundamentals. Dogecoin is different, as some people are expecting it to develop valuable use cases based on its high degree of adoption,” says Ajeet Khurana, an advisor to crypto projects worldwide.

Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and there are risks of fraud that you may face while investing. It is important to fully understand what you are investing in and do through research.