The Shiba Inu token gained popularity after Elon Musk tweeted about buying a Shiba Inu breed type of dog. However, several users confused his tweet, thinking the billionaire was throwing his weight behind Shiba Inu tokens. Although the billionaire has made his stance clear on the token, most people do not believe his words.
Whether due to Elon Musk's tweet or Buterin Vitelik's burning of Shiba Inu tokens, we know that the token has experienced exponential growth. So join us in this article as we discuss Shiba Inu tokens and why it is designed to kill Dogecoin.
Before we delve deeper into what Shiba Inu is, we must differentiate between a token and a coin.
Coins are digital currencies of blockchains, but tokens may be currencies, but they are not the same as coins. For instance, Ethereum, as a blockchain network, has ETH as its coin. However, other derivatives from the blockchain have tokens as their digital currency.
Shiba Inu is built on the Ethereum blockchain, but it does not help the Ethereum blockchain run like other tokens. Instead, Shiba Inu tokens utilize Ethereum blockchain security, power, and upkeep.
Although Dogecoin has its blockchain, Shiba Inu tokens are more efficient than it is, including intelligent contracts in Shiba Inu, which it enjoys from the Ethereum blockchain. This feature places Shiba Inu tokens at an advantage over Dogecoin, but we will discuss it later.
Shiba Inu was created by Ryoshi, an anonymous founder, while testing community governance.
A governance community makes decisions in blockchains or blockchain projects by voting. For example, in August 2020, Shiba Inu had an initial supply of 1 quadrillion tokens in circulation on its first creation. In May 2021, Ryoshi transferred half its tokens to Vitalik Buterin, which contributed to the tokens' increased value that year.
Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum founder, sold 10% of SHIB sent to him and then donated the funds to charity. Then, he burnt 90% of the tokens.
Burning in cryptocurrency means sending coins to a wallet with an undisclosed address. Invariably, the coins or tokens are lost forever.
When writing this article, SHIB has a total supply of 549 tokens in circulation.
Considering the rapid growth of SHIB, there is no doubt that the token is a big challenge to Dogecoin. However, while people say Vitalik burning 90% of the token helped increase its acceptance, SHIB is accepted because of its many distinctive features. Moreover, SHIB's distinctive features are conferred because it functions on smart contracts.
SHIB has intelligent contracts built on Ethereum, but the Dogecoin blockchain does not have smart contracts. The smart contract on SHIB allows users to create tokens and have multi-features. For example, you can trade and carry out other operations like staking and creating Defi apps with SHIB.
Further, SHIB allows users to lend their token, allow other users to use the token then receive their fees. The reward received – liquidity pool tokens, can be staked or locked up (burying). These and many more will kill Dogecoin if the blockchain is not upgraded.
Staking, lending, and burying are all things you can do with SHIB. SHIB can do this because it functions on a smart contract.