Shiba Inu is a meme-inspired cryptocurrency that has grown rapidly in popularity since its creation in August 2020. Its meteoric rise in 2021, which saw it gain over 1,000,000% in value within a year, has led many to wonder – what was Shiba Inu’s starting price when it first launched? Understanding Shiba Inu’s origins and early pricing provides insight into the token’s beginnings and the factors behind its explosive growth.
In this article, we will look at:
– The creation of Shiba Inu and its initial price
– Events surrounding the cryptocurrency’s launch
– Factors impacting Shiba Inu’s early pricing and valuation
– How the starting price compares to today’s Shiba Inu value
Examining Shiba Inu’s launch price and early days provides perspective on the token’s origins and the vision of its anonymous founder, known as Ryoshi. This background gives context to the cryptocurrency’s astronomical increase, which has cemented its status as a top meme coin.
The Creation of Shiba Inu
Shiba Inu coin first emerged in August 2020, created anonymously by someone under the pseudonym Ryoshi. According to the project’s woofpaper, Ryoshi wanted to build a decentralized community and fairly launched cryptocurrency inspired by the popular dogecoin meme.
The woofpaper outlines that Ryoshi locked 50% of Shiba Inu’s initial supply in Uniswap, then “burned” the other half to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin by sending it to his wallet address. This ensured fair distribution and prevented the founders from accessing large amounts of Shiba Inu tokens.
Shiba Inu was created on the Ethereum blockchain as an ERC-20 token. Being built on Ethereum allowed it to benefit from the network’s security and enabled compatibility with Ethereum wallets and decentralized exchanges like Uniswap. The token also had a fixed supply of 1 quadrillion tokens at launch to maintain scarcity.
These factors were key parts of Shiba Inu’s fair launch that set it apart from many other meme coins and aligned with founder Ryoshi’s vision. But to determine Shiba Inu’s starting price, we have to look at those chaotic first days after the cryptocurrency entered the market.
The Launch of Shiba Inu
In the beginning, Shiba Inu coin had virtually no valuation or traded volume, as few knew about the fledgling token. Ryoshi first announced the release of Shiba Inu in a Medium post on August 1, 2020 titled “All Hail the Shiba.” However, the cryptocurrency remained unknown and illiquid in those early days.
Things began to change in early May 2021. On May 7, Ryoshi posted about Shiba Inu on Medium again, trying to garner interest in the project. A few days later on May 10, they also tweeted “Will meme tokens ever stop pumping? Very unlikely. New theme? Inevitable.”
This publicity coincided with the peak of “meme mania” in the cryptocurrency market, as dogecoin skyrocketed in value following enthusiasm from figures like Elon Musk. Interest in Shiba Inu coin spiked amid this frenzy over meme tokens, causing a flurry of trading activity.
It was this surge in interest in mid-May 2021 that gave Shiba Inu its first real valuation. With more people trading the token, prices emerged as supply and demand dynamics took hold.
Shiba Inu’s Starting Price
Data from CoinMarketCap shows that on May 10, 2021, Shiba Inu’s price opened at a mere $0.00000000051. This miniscule figure reflects the token’s previously low profile and lack of an established value before trader interest ignited in early May last year.
In those early days of growing attention, Shiba Inu’s price remained similarly tiny. By May 12, 2021, just two days later, it had reached $0.00000038. Over the rest of May 2021, the token’s value fluctuated between $0.00000002 and $0.0000000009 as trading activity picked up pace.
So in effect, Shiba Inu essentially started with no valuation and within a week was trading between fractions of a cent. This gave it plenty of room to rapidly rise in value as excitement grew, investors bought in, and trading volumes expanded over the coming months. But it also shows just how obscure and illiquid Shiba Inu was at launch, with even its creator struggling to generate interest at first.
Factors Behind Shiba Inu’s Early Pricing
A few key factors contributed to Shiba Inu’s negligible valuation upon release and in its first few months:
Limited awareness
As an unknown project started anonymously, few cryptocurrency users were even aware of Shiba Inu’s existence in those early days. Without knowledge of the token, there was little demand to drive up prices. Even founder Ryoshi struggled to generate interest at launch. This limited Shiba Inu trading to just a handful of transactions between a small core group initially.
No trading on major exchanges
Though Shiba Inu was available on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap from the outset, it was not listed on any major centralized crypto exchanges in its first nine months. This severely restricted availability and made it harder for most investors to buy Shiba Inu tokens, limiting prices.
Absence of influencer promotion
Unlike dogecoin, Shiba Inu lacked high-profile advocates like Elon Musk to drive public enthusiasm early on. It took time for word-of-mouth and community promotion to spread awareness more organically. The lack of major celebrity endorsement or influencer marketing also contributed to muted demand and limited prices in the beginning.
Meme coin novelty
As one of the first meme-inspired cryptocurrencies beyond dogecoin, Shiba Inu was pioneering a new concept. It took time for investors to understand and gain confidence in the tokenomics and long-term viability of meme coins, limiting their appetite to invest heavily initially. Uncertainty around the cryptocurrency category’s staying power restricted prices.
Cryptocurrency market conditions
For much of 2020, cryptocurrency markets remained stagnant following the 2017 boom and bust cycle. Only in early 2021 did the crypto market regain momentum. Consequently, investor appetite for speculative assets like Shiba Inu was restrained through 2020, hampering early trading and pricing.
How Starting Price Compares to Today’s Value
Despite its humble beginnings priced at a tiny fraction of a cent, Shiba Inu saw its fortunes turn around remarkably quickly. By October 2021, less than 6 months after gaining its first valuation, Shiba Inu hit an all-time high of $0.00008841 on October 28.
This represented a staggering 1,600,000% rise from its May 10, 2021 price of $0.00000000051. Even by crypto standards, Shiba Inu’s gains were almost unprecedented.
By October 27, 2021, Shiba Inu had vaulted into the top 10 biggest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, reaching over $40 billion at its peak.
Today, on October 5, 2023, data from CoinMarketCap shows Shiba Inu has pulled back from those astronomical highs but remains trading at a very healthy $0.00001429.
This still represents a 28,000% increase from the token’s launch valuation. Despite its decline from its brief highs, Shiba Inu has maintained most of the parabolic gains experienced during 2021.
The following table summarizes key price milestones in Shiba Inu’s journey:
| Date | Price |
|---|---|
| August 1, 2020 | $0 |
| May 10, 2021 | $0.00000000051 |
| May 12, 2021 | $0.00000038 |
| October 28, 2021 | $0.00008841 (all-time high) |
| October 5, 2023 (today) | $0.00001429 |
This shows just how dramatic Shiba Inu’s rise has been in such a short timeframe. While past performance is no guarantee of future results, Shiba Inu has solidified its status as one of the most prominent meme coins and remains a popular cryptocurrency for investors seeking high upside potential.
Conclusion
In summary, Shiba Inu emerged in mid-2020 with virtually zero valuation, trading at a tiny fraction of a cent in its first few days of activity. Its lack of liquidity and obscurity in the beginning restricted prices to negligible levels initially. However, as awareness and demand grew, especially during the meme coin mania of mid-2021, Shiba Inu saw monumental gains of over 1,000,000% within months. Despite pulling back from its peaks, Shiba Inu still trades significantly higher from its launch. Looking back at its origins shows just how rapidly and dramatically the cryptocurrency’s fortunes transformed once traction picked up. Though past performance is not indicative of future results, Shiba Inu remains a speculative bet for investors willing to accept the risks inherent with volatile meme tokens.
