What Is Shiba Inu?

Defining Shiba Inu

Shiba Inu means something very different to dog lovers than to cryptocurrency investors, like yourself. In your case (though you may be a dog lover too), Shiba Inu is a cryptocurrency project of the memecoin variety like its predecessor, Dogecoin. 

The story of Shiba Inu revolves almost entirely around its cryptocurrency ecosystem, which is made up of SHIB, LEASH, and BONE. Since the project is community-driven, the mission of the Shiba Inu project is to protect the dogs after which the project is named. You can make purchases on Amazon Smile with Shiba Inu’s code and have a portion of the money you spend go towards the Shiba Inu Rescue Association (a 501(c)3, preferred non-profit organization).

This makes Shiba Inu one of the few charity-based, community-based cryptocurrency projects in the market. It is certainly among the largest that exist to serve communities. You’ll find that although it does not boast its own mainnet or technical wonders therein, Shiba Inu is doing a lot to support communities that may not even know what SHIB is. 

The Shiba Inu Ecosystem

Shiba Inu had its humble beginnings with just one single cryptocurrency and a mission: to protect and rescue real-life Shiba Inu dogs from abuse and animal shelters. As opposed to its most famous predecessor, Dogecoin, which exists primarily as a joke and secondarily as a tip token on Reddit, Shiba Inu has evolved into a vibrant ecosystem.

The Shiba Inu ecosystem is comprised of several products and its suite of cryptocurrencies. 

The Cryptos

Shiba Inu now features three cryptocurrencies in its ecosystem: SHIB, BONE, and LEASH. Based on the way things are going, that number could go up in the future, but these are the only three as of early August, 2021. All of them have slightly different functions, but all are ERC-20 tokens.

SHIB is the original Shiba Inu crypto. This coin has been listed on pretty much all the major exchanges you can name, including Binance and Coinbase. It has a total supply of 1 quadrillion, about half of which was given to Vitalik Buterin, which he donated to the Indian Covid Crypto Relief Fund. The move caused SHIB price to crash at the time, just shortly after it was listed on Coinbase.

The Shiba Inu token is its foundational currency and allows investors to hold tremendous amounts in their personal wallets. The coin itself was made simply because DOGE exists. The reasoning was that, if DOGE price could rise over 5000% in a short period of time, SHIB could do just as well, or better. Aside from that, SHIB has little other use case. It is, after all, a memecoin.

‍LEASH is the next coin from Shiba Inu. It is officially known as Doge Killer which, you might have noticed, is also the reason for SHIB existence. LEASH was originally set to be a rebase token, a plan that the team abandoned. With a total supply of 107,646 tokens, it is far more scarce than SHIB.

LEASH is the second token incentivized on ShibaSwap and will offer lucrative rewards for the holders providing its liquidity. The main reason for LEASH’s existence is to give traders a scarcer asset to invest in, which can still help you increase your wealth by providing liquidity on the ShibSwap DEX.

BONE is the third token from Shiba Inu. It arguably has the most utility in the Shiba Inu ecosystem by enriching the greater DeFi ecosystem. BONE has 250,000,000 tokens, and is designed to fit perfectly between the previous two tokens in regard to circulating supply.

The token is a governance token that will allow holders to vote on upcoming proposals on the Doggy DAO. As a governance token, it helps Shiba Inu enter the DeFi space with little bluster.

ShibaSwap

ShibaSwap is Shiba Inu’s own decentralized exchange. It has been built to accommodate all products within the Shiba Inu ecosystem, especially its cryptos, and to give holders easier access to the broader cryptocurrency industry.  ShibaSwap gives users the ability to DIG (provide liquidity), BURY (stake), and swap tokens to gain WOOF returns through a passive income reward system.

As you probably figured out, all the products on ShibaSwap are dog-themed. It is apparently the centerpiece of the Shiba Inu ecosystem. It functions in much the same way most other DEXes do by facilitating swaps, providing liquidity, farming, staking for rewards, and viewing your analytics. 

The TVL on ShibaSwap is impressive, albeit not surprising considering the reach SHIB has among CEXes. As of early August, 2021, TVL is about $440 mil according to the ShibaSwap website. This data couldn’t be confirmed by DeFi Pulse, but is presumed to be accurate. That puts ShibaSwap on par with Kyber in the top 10 DEXes by TVL.

Overall Mission of Shiba Inu

The overarching theme within the Shiba Inu project, aside from all the esoteric dog-related words, is community. The project wishes to support the cryptocurrency community and real-life initiatives. The founders realize that people are what make memecoins great, and have therefore endeavored to showcase community efforts. 

Doggy DAO is the next product which the project will launch. Like any DAO, it will help govern the functionality of the Shiba Inu project. 

The community is home to something called the Shiba Inu Incubator. This is a program that cultivates the talent of willing individuals in the community and rewards them for their efforts. Its abstract nature is yet another aspect that makes this memecoin so popular. It is a broad idea, which masses can easily digest and subscribe to. Consider it the antithesis of something like Yearn, which requires a deep, specific, technical understanding of Curve, economics, and some coding to fully grasp its depth.

As mentioned at the top of this piece, Shiba Inu also encourages the community to give charitable donations in order to help protect and rescue real Shiba Inu dogs. 

The Shiba Inu project is a surprising one in the crypto space since it is, in essence, only a meme. It distinguishes itself by having three different memecoins in its ecosystem, and both a cult of personality and a series of products that enriches its community in a real way. This is far different from its elder competitor, Dogecoin, which has naught but a tip coin to show for its years of existence.