Shiba Inu — inu in Japanese means “dog,” so for the sake of brevity, it will henceforth be referred to as simply Shiba — is a breed of dog indigenous to Japan that has been used for hunting and companionship for decades, if not longer. The Shiba largely remained on Japanese soil until the mid-20th century, but has since become a highly sought-after pet for dog lovers in other parts of the world and the digital asset space.
Though the breed doesn’t bear the same notoriety as the Akita — of which Japan’s most famous dog, Hachiko, shared — the Shiba has been recognized as a Natural Monument of Japan through the Cultural Properties Act and, with the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, has already made a name for itself. A Shiba was the face of the famed Doge meme, featuring a dog looking into the camera with a seemingly confused expression as floating text represented its inner monologue.
In response to the popularity of the meme on social media, the Dogecoin project was first formed in 2014, launched initially as a joke. However, figures such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk pumped the price of the token through Twitter posts and public endorsements, resulting in massive gains. Similarly-named tokens including Shiba Inu have capitalized on the success of the meme-based token and are now accepted as a form of payment in many venues.
Regardless of breed, dogs have been, and likely always will be, a source of entertainment and comfort for humans, and 2021 was no exception. While pet ownership did not necessarily rise during the early months of the pandemic the previous year, the popularity and awareness of Dogecoin may have been behind a growing demand for the Japanese hunting dog in 2021.
Before the start of 2021, the price of DOGE was largely insignificant, recorded at far below $0.01. However, the token’s price surged in January driven largely by pro-Dogecoin posts from Musk and the controversy around the GameStop “stonks” situation, with Redditors pushing DOGE along with other stocks available for trading on the Robinhood app.
In less than four months, the DOGE price had risen from fractions of a penny to more than $0.74 in the hour before Musk’s appearance promoting the project on Saturday Night Live. At roughly the same time, SHIB’s popularity was rising as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin donated more than 50 trillion of the tokens to help fight COVID-19 in India. The token exploded in October, rising more than 6,000% and making many early adopters millionaires.
A number of token projects with names or logos resembling the famed Shiba have popped up in 2021, but none have quite reached the same level of adoption as Dogecoin or its predecessor SHIB. Though many refer to SHIB as the “Dogecoin killer,” other projects including Leash, Kishu Inu, Dogelon Mars, UnderDog, Doge Token, DogeFi and DogeSwap seem to be trying their best to flippen the meme-based token.
The Shiba behind the original Doge meme is still alive and living happily in Japan. The number of knockoff projects may continue to pile up should interest in DOGE and SHIB remain, but Netflix show Tiger King star Carole Baskin’s launch of a CAT token hints that the space may leave opportunities for any animals in the future.
The Dogecoin Foundation, which reformed in August after six years away, released a roadmap for the token project suggesting it would be focusing on utility as a pathway to greater adoption in 2022. The token price seems to be less susceptible to Musk’s tweets than it was at the beginning of the year, but FUD, FOMO and talk of pump-and-dumps will likely remain powerful motivators for traders monitoring social media.
Adoption
