The Shiba Inu token ecosystem goes beyond mere meme coin ponzinomics and relentless ‘to the moon’ shilling from the SHIB Army. Behind SHIB’s furry facade, digital assets like BONE and LEASH bring deeper utility and complexity to the Shiba Inu ecosystem.
With the launch of Shibarium ticked off Shytoshi Kusama’s to-do list and the development of the Shiba Inu metaverse in full swing, the role of secondary Shiba Inu tokens will only become more prominent.
What exactly are these Shiba Inu tokens, and why are they causing such a stir in the crypto market?
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What are Shiba Inu Ecosystem Tokens?
When Ryoshi launched Shiba Inu in August 2020 as a DOGE rival, he probably never imagined what the cryptocurrency meme coin would become. With a growing range of products and services under its umbrella, Shiba Inu has stepped out of its meme token origins on the Ethereum blockchain and established itself as a powerful entity in the crypto space.
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At the heart of this thriving project, Shiba Inu ecosystem tokens serve various functions and use cases that help expand the network while orbiting SHIB and providing the SHIB Army with value and utility. With every day that passes, it seems the Japanese hunting dog grows even mightier.
BONE
BONE is undoubtedly the most important of all the secondary Shiba Inu tokens. Launched in tandem with ShibaSwap, the ecosystem’s decentralized exchange, BONE was originally used as a governance token that gave holders the power to vote on community-led proposals shaping Shiba Inu’s future.
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BONE only grew in significance with the launch of Shibarium. The native gas token of the Layer-2 Ethereum (ETH) scaling solution is used to pay network transaction fees and secure the blockchain. This makes BONE the lifeblood of the Shibarium network and an essential cog in the Shiba Inu machine.
LEASH
LEASH, or the ‘Dogecoin Killer,’ is a Shiba Inu token with a fixed supply. While it was originally intended as a DeFi rebase ERC-20 token that algorithmically stabilizes its value, the Shiba Inu community opted to treat LEASH as a utility token instead.
Holding qualifying amounts of LEASH meant that the SHIB Army could get priority access to upcoming Shiba Inu ecosystem launches like Shiboshi NFTs (non-fungible tokens) or the Shiba Inu Metaverse land sales. On top of that, LEASH can also be used in various ShibaSwap DeFi functions, like liquidity yield farming, to earn crypto rewards paid in BONE.
TREAT
Whispered rumors of yet another addition to the growing list of Shiba Inu tokens began circulating in July 2022. Shytoshi Kusama, the lead developer of the Shiba Inu team, teased TREAT as a rewards token.
TREAT is expected to play a significant role in upcoming Shiba Inu developments, like the Shiba Inu Metaverse. It’s also speculated that TREAT will operate as a reserve currency that rebalances and supports the peg of the final Shiba Inu ecosystem token, SHI.
SHI
Rounding out the list of Shiba Inu tokens, we have the DeFi essential that every ecosystem struggles to perfect. SHI is slated as the Shiba Inu community’s native stablecoin, designed to maintain a value pegged to USD regardless of volatility in the crypto market.
SHI’s rollout has certainly hit plenty of roadblocks. Shytoshi Kusama stresses that SHI is an experimental protocol but believes the team has managed to successfully avoid the economic faults of legacy stablecoin systems (take note, Do Kwon).
Despite the excitement, SHI development seems to have stalled. The stablecoin was originally expected to launch in 2022 officially, however, anything resembling progress is yet to be announced.
It’s worth mentioning that the official Shiba Inu site, which lists ecosystem tokens, only has one blurred-out panel for unreleased tokens. Could this mean that one of either TREAT or SHI has been abandoned? Only time will tell.
Where Can I Buy Shiba Inu Ecosystem Tokens?
Since Shiba Inu ecosystem tokens are a bit more niche than the big dog himself, finding them on crypto exchanges is a bit more difficult. Unlike industry staples like Bitcoin (BTC), you won’t be able to find BONE or Leash on top exchanges like Binance or Coinbase.
If you’re a long-term believer in the future of Shiba Inu, the best place to buy Shiba Inu tokens is through ShibaSwap. This is because exchange fees are collected and used further to benefit the Shiba Inu ecosystem as a whole. Other DeFi options include Uniswap.
Those who prefer to keep their hands clean of decentralized finance can buy BONE and LEASH on smaller cryptocurrency exchanges like OKX, Huobi, and Gate.io.
What Happened to Vitalik Buterin’s Shiba Inu Tokens?
When Ryoshi initially launched Shiba Inu, around half of the tokens’ one quadrillion-strong maximum supply was sent to Vitalik Buterin’s wallet.
Being a decentralization purist, the Ether founder didn’t want to exercise so much power and influence over the Shiba Inu community. To remedy the situation, Buterin burnt most of his gifted allocation, worth around $6B, and donated around $1B in SHIB to a Covid Relief Fund in India.
Does Elon Musk Own Any Shiba Inu Tokens?
While Elon Musk has vocally supported Dogecoin through his market-shifting tweets and social media posts, the eccentric billionaire has confirmed that he doesn’t own any SHIB.
Shiba Inu Tokens: Pros and Cons
The Shiba Inu tokens are no stranger to mixed reviews. While some people champion BONE and LEASH as innovative and novel additions to the ecosystem, they could also be considered unnecessary bloating for a project struggling to settle on its true identity. Let’s delve into the pros and cons of these tokens to get a balanced perspective.
Pros
- Diverse Ecosystem – With a great variety of tokens, the Shiba Inu ecosystem offers a range of utilities, including governance and rewards.
- Innovative Developments – With future developments like the Shiba Inu metaverse, plenty of potential new use cases exist for existing tokens.
- Community-Driven – The beauty of decentralization is that anyone can create new tokens that benefit the Shiba Inu ecosystem somehow.
Cons
- Market Volatility – Shiba Inu tokens are notoriously volatile and prone to dramatic price moves. For example, both BONE and LEASH are down over 95% from their respective all-time-highs.
- Poor Communication – SHI was expected to be released before the end of 2022. With 2023 drawing to a close, nothing has been officially unannounced, and the future of SHI is unclear.
- Redundant Tokens? – Apart from yield farming, LEASH has no apparent utility. While it was previously used to bestow priority access to new products, LEASH has no announced future use case.
On the Flipside
- The Shiba Inu ecosystem has proven itself a capable underdog over the years. While digital currencies like BONE and LEASH are down, they’re not completely out. Future developments should bring new life to these Shiba Inu tokens.
Why This Matters
The Shiba Inu ecosystem has evolved into perhaps the most complete and multi-faceted meme coin economy. Being informed and aware of each token’s role and utility will help you to make educated decisions in the crypto market.
FAQs
The total supply of LEASH is 107,566 tokens.
At the time of writing, BONE has a circulating supply of 229,923,351 tokens. Bear in mind that this is prone to change due to BONE emissions.
The all-time high price of SHIBA Inu was recorded on October 28, 2021. The SHIB price was $0.00008845.
You can track SHIBs 24-hour trading volume and current prices in addition to fiat currencies like EUR and GBP on CoinMarketCap.
If BONE reached $100, it would have a market cap of over $20B. This would give BONE more market capitalization than leading Layer-1 blockchains like Solana and Cardano.
