Shiba Inu coin: 6 things to know about the cryptocurrency
SHIBA Inu coins are one of the latest cryptocurrencies to hit the market - we round up six things you need to know.
It comes as crypto fans are on the hunt for the next success story to follow .
Buying cryptocurrencies and decentralised finance tokens as well as stocks and shares is a risky business.
Investing is not a guaranteed way to make money, so make sure you know the risks and can afford to lose the money.
Cryptocurrencies are also highly volatile, so the value of your assets drop rapidly if you're not careful
As always, you should never invest in something you don't understand.
1. What is Shiba Inu?
Shiba Inu coins are cryptocurrency meme tokens and allow users to hold trillions of them, according to its website.
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These tokens are listed and incentivized on ShibaSwap, its own decentralized exchange.
Its website claims to have locked 50% of its total supply to Uniswap, while the remaining has been burned to Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin.
The tokens feature the same Shiba Inu dog as Dogecoin, which has rocketed in popularity recently.
2. How much is Shiba Inu worth?
The value of Shiba Inu is currently sitting at $0.00002869, compared to a high of $0.0000826 at the end of October last year, according to CoinMarketCap.
At the time of writing, it’s down 6.65% in 24 hours.
The value of Shiba has fallen steadily since the end of last year, after a huge rally in October 2021 saw its value skyrocket more than 430%.
The rally was started by billionaire , who has a Shibu Inu puppy and posted a picture of it on Twitter.
But keep in mind that Shiba is trading fractional numbers - meaning rises and falls might seem bigger.
In comparison, Dogecoin is currently worth $0.265938 - up from $0.005 at the beginning of 2021.
A number of Dogecoin look-alikes have thrived thanks to the recent surging value of the Shiba Inu-themed coin.
3. Will Shiba Inu's price rise and what will the price be in 2022?
It's tough to say where things will end up in a year from now because of the volatility cryptocurrencies are subject to.
The token's highest value in the year-to-date has been $0.0000342, which it hit at the beginning of the month, so it's down since then.
But some are bullish on Musk-touted cryptocurrency.
For example, crypto website expects the value to reach $0.000053 this year.
Meanwhile, sees Shiba reaching $0.00008819 by mid-2022.
4. It aims to replicate the success of Dogecoin
Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, previously told The Sun the token "appears to have been created" to give Dogecoin a run for its money.
She added: "It features the same dog which became a meme, and aims to replicate Dogecoin’s success of turning a joke into a money making machine."
The value of Dogecoin has surged thanks to celebrity backing, while a bunch of Reddit threads also called for it to hit a value of $1 per coin.
The Shiba token website said: "Nicknamed the DOGECOIN KILLER, this ERC-20 ONLY token can remain well under a penny and still outpace Dogecoin in a small amount of time (relatively speaking)."
5. Investing is risky and you could lose it all
Investing in cryptocurrencies is essentially gambling and there are no guarantees that you will see what you pay in go up in value.
Cryptocurrencies are VERY high risk and a speculative investment, with limited track records and no underlying value.
There is also no guarantee that you can convert crypto assests back into cash, as it may depend on the demand and supply in the existing market.
Ms Streeter said: "Investors should treat trading in cryptocurrencies with extreme caution, and dabble at the edges of their investment portfolio, only with money they can afford to lose."
While Nigel Green, chief executive of deVere Group, added: "Extreme caution should be exercised before investing in un-tested cryptocurrencies.
"The price swings can be expected to be wild and there’s a legitimate risk that investors could get burned.
"There are major differences between the likes of Bitcoin, which runs on cutting edge tech and has a limited supply giving it scarcity value like gold, amongst other valuable attributes; and unknown digital tokens which seemingly have no inherent value."
6. Warning over new crypto coins
Newer cryptocurrencies are the most risky, as it's harder to tell if they're legitimate.
This means you're more open to fall for a scam.
UK crypto asset businesses must register with the Financial Conduct Authority - and you can check to see if they are on the or if they are on a .
There is also a . If they are on this list then they may be operating illegally.
Even if they are on the list the city watchdog is not responsible for regulating them and they don't have any power over how they conduct business with customers.
Essentially it is very hard to tell which firms are real and which ones are scammers.
Cryptocurrency firms also aren't regulated in the way that other financial firms are, meaning you won't have any protection if things go wrong.
You won’t be able to take a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, for example.
In January, the Financial Conduct Authority warned that Brits risk losing ALL of their money if they invest in cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, an advert for a bitcoin exchange Coinfloor was banned in March for telling savers cryptocurrencies are a safe investment.
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People considering investing in Bitcoin or shares and stocks have also been warned over "risky" tips being shared on TikTok.
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