Shiba Inu: From 15x Gains to Back to Square One

Shiba Inu: From 15x Gains to Back to Square One

Shiba Inu briefly became the eighth most valuable cryptocurrency on the planet. It also multiplied the investment of early backers fifteenfold. By June 2022, it had returned all those gains to the void from which it emerged. It's the asset that best summarizes the latest easy money frenzy: a token with no apparent use, whose only recognized function—even by those who buy it—is that someone else will pay more for it tomorrow. In finance, that has an old name.

Where the Dog Coin Came From

It was born as a parody of Dogecoin and grew thanks to Binance, which listed it and gave it the final push. The figures its holders deal with are dizzying: anyone who invested in January 2021 would have seen a return of 1,042,543.23%. The same amount of money in bitcoin would have yielded 30% in the same period. That differential explains everything else.

There is no proven product or technology behind it to justify such a leap. There is liquidity, narrative, and a community willing to hold on. At its peak, it reached eighth place by market capitalization, ahead of projects with years of development. Market cap, as is often sarcastically repeated, weighs next to nothing, whether it's Shiba, Cardano, or Ethereum.

The 41% Vitalik Burned and 50 Billion to India

In June 2021, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin burned 41% of the supply. The tokens went to a burned wallet starting with 0xdead, meaning they ceased to exist in circulation. He also donated 50 billion units to India's ELbichito-19 campaign, of which Binance bought a portion.

The move was interpreted simultaneously as a power play and a full-blown dump: the Indians sold their share, and the price reflected it. The underlying debate remains intact. A burn doesn't create value; it only reduces the numerator of a fraction that still lacks a real denominator.

The Robinhood Rumor as Fuel

In late October, the strong rumor circulated that Robinhood would list the token on November 1st. For a platform that lives off retail investors, a viral altcoin is good business. Several analyses described it bluntly as a pumping operation aimed precisely at Robinhood's clients. Others doubted the platform would take the bait: it's not in its interest to fleece its own users.

The listing was never confirmed as a fact. However, the rumor had already done its work on the price.

Shibaswap, Shibarium, and the Non-Existent Figures

The serious argument wasn't the price; it was the ecosystem. The launch of Shibaswap—the swap—was expected in June, then for "any day now," with staking rewards. And hovering above it all was Shibarium, its own network, whose performance figures were cited without even being in beta: 600,000 transactions per second, compared to Ethereum's 16,000 or Solana's 60,000. Brochure-like figures for a project that, to date, had delivered nothing verifiable.

The Cycle of Euphoria and Panic, Again

All this moved between two waters. Those holding on saw a four-hour flag ready to break, a key point at 0.0000652, and an imminent takeoff. Those who had already cashed out spoke of a coin that "drags," of a possible 2x still, and of a worse scenario where the invention implodes. On June 13, 2022, the verdict arrived. The token was back where it was before the 15x rally. No one sold at the peak, and those who did aren't talking.

With these ingredients, it's reasonable to expect another identical cycle: euphoria, peak, silence, and a new dog with a different name. When it happens again, some will swear this time it's different.