Buy Shiba Inu

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a dog-themed meme coin that runs on the Ethereum blockchain and grew from an internet joke into a large online crypto community. It was created as a playful alternative to Dogecoin and is one of the best-known meme coins in the world.

Unlike cryptocurrencies that have their own blockchain, SHIB is a token built on Ethereum. This means it uses Ethereum's network and security rather than running on its own. SHIB was designed to be fun and community-driven rather than to solve a specific technical problem, and its popularity has been heavily fuelled by social media and an active online following often called the "Shib Army."

Over time, the project has grown beyond a single token into a wider ecosystem. This includes a decentralised exchange called ShibaSwap, additional tokens such as LEASH and BONE, and a layer-2 network called Shibarium designed to make transactions faster and cheaper.

What is Shiba Inu used for?

Shiba Inu is mainly used as a community-driven meme coin that people buy, hold, trade and send to one another. Its value is driven largely by online community interest and sentiment rather than a specific use case.

SHIB is used to:

• buy, hold and trade as a meme coin
• take part in the wider Shiba Inu ecosystem, including the ShibaSwap decentralised exchange
• send and receive value on the Ethereum network

Shiba Inu launched with an enormous supply of one quadrillion tokens. The project has since carried out token burns, which permanently remove SHIB from circulation to gradually reduce the overall supply. Even so, the supply remains extremely large, and like other meme coins, SHIB can be highly volatile and is strongly influenced by social media attention.

The history of Shiba Inu

Shiba Inu was created in August 2020 by an anonymous person or group known only as "Ryoshi." It was launched as a decentralised, community-run experiment and as a light-hearted rival to Dogecoin, using the same Shiba Inu dog breed as its mascot.

In a now-famous moment, half of the total SHIB supply was sent to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. He later burned a large portion of those tokens, permanently removing them from circulation. You can find out more on the official Shiba Inu website.

Since launching, Shiba Inu has grown into one of the most recognisable meme coins in the world, supported by a large and active online community. The project has expanded to include the ShibaSwap decentralised exchange, additional tokens such as LEASH and BONE, and the Shibarium layer-2 network. People buy SHIB for many reasons, including taking part in its community, trading, or gaining exposure to the wider meme coin market.