What is Shiba Inu? The “Dogecoin Killer”

what is shiba inu

Shiba Inu is an Ethereum-based, dog memecoin token launched specifically as a “dogecoin killer.” Its native token is “SHIB.” Initially, there were one quadrillion tokens in circulation, but more than 40% have already been burnt out of existence. The protocol was created by an anonymous developer named “Ryoshi,” who is still heavily involved in protocol development. Being a memecoin and having an inflated supply, the price of 1 SHIB is usually very low. This is done by design to encourage users to spend the tokens instead of hoarding them.

Shib Inu Tokenomics

While “SHIB” is the most well-known token in the Shiba Inu network, it is far from the only one in the ecosystem. In fact, there are as many as three tokens in the Shiba Inu network, which are:

  • SHIB: As has already been said, SHIB is the Shiba Inu network’s foundational utility token. It can be traded and used as a mode of payment.
  • LEASH: These tokens are limited to only 107,647 units. The main purpose of LEASH is to provide staking rewards for users validating the transactions. Fun fact – Originally, LEASH was supposed to be a rebase token pegged to the value of Dogecoin.
  • BONE: With a max supply of 250 million, BONE is the governance token of the Shiba Inu ecosystem. Users can vote on various governance proposals using the BONE token.

What is ShibaSwap?

Earlier this year, the ShibaSwap platform went live. Think of ShibaSwap as an all-in-one platform that offers lending, staking, and swapping services, along with an NFT marketplace. This development really sets SHIB apart from DOGE. Shiba Inu is hard to dismiss as just “another dog meme token” when it has a more sophisticated ecosystem than most DeFi protocols.

Let’s take a closer look at what ShibaSwap has to offer.

#1 Staking or Burying

what is shiba inu

You can stake or “Bury” tokens to earn rewards. For example, when you stake SHIB, LEASH, and BONE, you get xSHIB, xLEASH, and tBONE, respectively. These tokens don’t have any value. They are simply a digital receipt which shows that:

  • You have staked the corresponding token.
  • How many units of that token you have staked.

 

#2 Providing Liquidity or Digging

what is shiba inu
You can also lock up the native tokens in various pools and earn liquidity rewards. You get the corresponding SSLP (ShibaSwap liquidity provider) token when you lock up the Token-ETH pair. Like any LP token, the SSLP represents your pool share in the token-ETH pool. ShibaSwap allows you to further farm these SSLP tokens by staking them and earning rewards.

Buy Shiba Inu

#3 Swapping

what is shiba inu
How about a simple token-to-token swap? Simply connect your wallet to ShibaSwap and swap your existing coins for another coin.

#4 Buy Shiboshi NFTs

what is shiba inuFinally, you can use ShibSwap to buy Shiboshis, a collection of 10,000 NFTs. You can use your Shiboshi in the upcoming Shiboshi game, which allows you to use your NFT in strategic gameplay. 

Conclusion

While it started as a joke coin, Shiba Inu has since morphed into a completely different beast. This is a payment token, DeFi platform, NFT marketplace, and memecoin all rolled into one. We have never seen anything like this, though it is likely that we will see more iterations of this protocol in the future. If you want to buy SHIB then click here.