Shiba Inu’s Wild Ride: Five Years On, the Meme Coin Still Trails the Market

Shiba Inu was born out of internet humor and hype, but it quickly found its way into the wallets of millions of retail investors. Five years later, the question lingers: was it worth the bet?

A Meme Coin with Big Ambitions

Launched in August 2020 by an anonymous creator known as “Ryoshi,” Shiba Inu (SHIB) was never pitched as a revolutionary payment system like Bitcoin. Instead, it leaned into meme culture, borrowing its name and image from the Shiba Inu dog breed made famous by Dogecoin.

Unlike Dogecoin, though, Shiba Inu wasn’t built on its own chain. It runs as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum, giving it access to decentralized finance infrastructure. That detail allowed developers to bolt on extra utilities over time.

The centerpiece is ShibaSwap, a decentralized exchange where users can trade, stake, and farm SHIB. The project has also ventured into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and even teased plans for a metaverse-like environment. These features were meant to give the coin staying power beyond memes.

From Fractions of a Cent to a Frenzy

The token started dirt cheap, trading at roughly $0.00001008 in 2020. For early buyers, it looked like a lottery ticket.

By October 2021, the frenzy hit full throttle. SHIB rocketed more than 770% to an all-time high of $0.000088 after Coinbase listed it and Elon Musk posted about Shiba Inu dogs on social media. For a brief window, SHIB ranked among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

But the climb didn’t last. Prices fell back to earth as the speculative rush cooled. Today, Shiba Inu trades at about $0.000013—well above its launch, but a far cry from its peak.

How an Early Bet Stacks Up

So, what if you had put $1,000 into Shiba Inu at the start? At today’s price, you’d be sitting on about $1,290. That’s a 29% gain over five years.

On paper, it’s profit. But when compared to traditional benchmarks, it looks underwhelming.

The contrast is striking. Holding a simple index fund would have delivered significantly more upside with far less drama.

Volatility Remains the Defining Feature

Even by crypto standards, Shiba Inu is volatile. Its moves often stem from online chatter rather than fundamental developments. Supporters call themselves the “Shib Army,” and their activity on Twitter, Reddit, and Telegram has at times driven buying frenzies.

But when the hype fades, so does the price. Unlike Bitcoin, which some view as digital gold, or Ethereum, which powers decentralized applications, Shiba Inu’s value case is harder to pin down. It thrives on community energy, but that energy isn’t always enough to sustain long-term growth.

Can Shiba Inu Outgrow Its Meme Status?

Developers are still pushing. ShibaSwap continues to operate, and the team is experimenting with layer-2 scaling through “Shibarium,” a blockchain aimed at lowering transaction costs.

These efforts hint at a desire to evolve beyond a joke coin. Still, adoption remains niche, and critics argue that Shiba Inu’s enormous supply—nearly 589 trillion tokens in circulation—limits its price potential.

For many holders, SHIB isn’t about financial logic. It’s about belonging to an online tribe, taking part in a cultural moment, and hoping lightning strikes twice.