What is and how to buy Shiba Inu coins?

The Shiba Inu token was launched in 2020 by an anonymous person (or group) under the pseudonym Ryoshi. It’s based on (and also named after) the Japanese dog breed that’s featured in the Doge meme that inspired Dogecoin, which is considered the first meme coin. Shiba Inu was, in fact, launched as a competitor to Dogecoin. 

To differentiate itself from other meme coins and gain a strong foothold in the crypto world, the developers of Shiba Inu gave the primary founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, fifty per cent of all Shiba Inu tokens in circulation. Rumours that Vitalik owned and held SHIB soon surfaced on social media. This hype drove investors to buy Shiba Inu coins, causing a surge in value. In May of 2021, Vitalik donated 50 trillion SHIB (worth about AUD$ 9.4 billion at the time) to the India Covid Relief Fund and then burned a major portion of the remaining SHIB tokens he owned. This caused the Shiba Inu coin price to plummet.

The value of SHIB remained constant for a while until October 2021, when Elon Musk tweeted a picture of his new Shiba Inu puppy. Rumours that Elon Musk backed Shiba Inu went viral, and this caused the value of the token to skyrocket to it's all-time high in around three weeks. The value gradually began dropping and eventually reached its pre-tweet value in about eight months.

If you want to buy Shiba Inu, you can use the coin’s native crypto exchange platform ShibaSwap or any other crypto exchange platform that lists SHIB tokens. The process of buying SHIB tokens is the same as other cryptocurrencies - you’ll have to create an account on a crypto exchange platform, deposit fiat or normal currency, look for SHIB tokens, and then purchase the quantity you want.

Whether or not you should buy Shiba Inu depends on your risk-taking capacity and investment outlook. Shiba Inu’s history resembles that of most meme coins. The value is driven by speculation and hype; it surges for a short period and then drops back down. 

Such volatility makes Shiba Inu one of the riskier cryptocurrencies to invest in. However, Shiba Inu remains a popular meme coin in circulation today. It is ranked fourteenth among all cryptocurrencies based on a market cap in December 2022. It could potentially increase in value, but it may also need another viral event for this increase to be substantial.

If you decide to buy Shiba Inu coins, consider only investing an amount that you can afford to lose, keeping in mind the volatility of the asset. Volatility and uncertainty in price are typical among cryptocurrencies but are amplified in meme coins. You could also speak with a financial expert to seek help in building a diverse investment portfolio to grow your wealth sustainably.