Shiba Inu (SHIB) SHIB

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a memecoin launched in August 2020 by an anonymous creator using the name “Ryoshi”. Inspired by Dogecoin and its Shiba Inu dog mascot, it started as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum with a supply of one quadrillion coins. It has since grown into an ecosystem with its own decentralized exchange, extra tokens and a layer-2 network called Shibarium, while remaining driven mostly by community and speculation.

What is Shiba Inu?

SHIB is a token, not a blockchain of its own: it lives on Ethereum as a standard ERC-20 asset, so any Ethereum wallet can hold it. Its creator never revealed their identity, and the project presents itself as a community-led experiment. The huge supply means each coin has a tiny unit value, which is part of its appeal to retail buyers and one reason critics describe it as a speculative asset rather than a currency.

How the Shiba Inu ecosystem works

Around SHIB, developers have added several pieces:

• **ShibaSwap:** a decentralized exchange launched in July 2021 where users can swap tokens and provide liquidity.
• **BONE:** the governance token of the ecosystem and the gas token of Shibarium.
• **LEASH:** a token with a much smaller supply, migrated to a new v2 contract in 2025 after a flaw in its original rebase design.
• **Shibarium:** an Ethereum layer 2 launched in August 2023, designed to make SHIB transfers and applications cheaper than on Ethereum mainnet. According to the Shib documentation, it uses chain ID 109 and BONE for gas.

The project has also promoted token burns, sending SHIB to addresses from which it can never be spent, to reduce circulating supply. Given the size of the supply, burns have had little visible effect, and CoinDesk noted in 2025 that aggressive burn programmes did not produce rallies.

Key dates

• **August 2020:** Ryoshi launches SHIB on Ethereum with one quadrillion tokens.
• **May 2021:** Vitalik Buterin, who had received a large share of the supply from the creators without asking, donates more than 50 trillion SHIB to the India COVID-Crypto Relief Fund on 13 May and another large amount to the Future of Life Institute, and sends most of the rest to a burn address.
• **July 2021:** ShibaSwap goes live.
• **October–November 2021:** a retail-driven surge, followed by a sharp fall, puts SHIB in the headlines and raises concerns about very large holders.
• **August 2023:** Shibarium launches on mainnet.
• **September 2025:** an attacker uses a flash loan to buy 4.6 million BONE, gain majority validator power on Shibarium and drain assets from its bridge; developers pause staking and move remaining funds to a 6-of-9 multisig.
• **March 2026:** Buterin explains that the Future of Life Institute was able to sell about $500 million of his 2021 SHIB donation.

What SHIB is used for

In practice, SHIB is mainly held and traded as a speculative, community-driven asset. It can be swapped on ShibaSwap and many other exchanges, used in a few payment services and moved on Shibarium for lower fees. Its value depends heavily on attention, social media and market sentiment rather than on cash flows or network fees.

Shiba Inu vs Dogecoin

Dogecoin runs its own proof-of-work blockchain and has existed since 2013. Shiba Inu is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum, which made it easy to plug into DeFi and to build extra tokens around it. Both are memecoins, but SHIB has a larger ecosystem of side tokens and its own layer 2, while Dogecoin remains a simpler payment coin.

Risks and criticism

• **Speculation:** memecoins can rise and collapse quickly with little connection to real usage.
• **Concentration:** a few whales and exchange wallets hold a large share of the supply.
• **Security:** the 2025 Shibarium bridge exploit showed that a layer 2 with a small validator set can be attacked.
• **Anonymous origins:** the creator is unknown and the project depends on a small core team.
• **Scams:** fake SHIB giveaways, copycat tokens and phishing sites are frequent.

How to store SHIB

Because SHIB is an ERC-20 token, any Ethereum-compatible software or hardware wallet can hold it. Check the official contract address on Etherscan before buying on a decentralized exchange, as many fake tokens copy the name. If you use Shibarium, remember that you need BONE for gas there. For long-term holdings, use a hardware wallet and keep your recovery phrase offline.