You only have to trade cryptocurrencies for a short period of time before you soon realize that anything and everything can happen in this sector. For gunslingers who think they’re the quickest draw in the west, “opportunities” like Shiba Inu (CCC:SHIB-USD) are extremely tempting. With so many zeroes in front of an actual number, SHIB-USD is certainly an interesting concoction.
Let’s put it this way. At time of writing, you only need to spend a buck to acquire 159,515 Shiba Inu tokens. Therefore, if this dog-inspired meme crypto could gain any meaningful “per-share” value (even one-hundredth of a penny would do the trick) stakeholders would extract incredible value. But how likely is this?
To be completely honest with you, not good. I’m not going to put any money on it but my personal beliefs (at least at this moment) is that there’s virtually no chance that Shiba Inu on a per-token basis would be worth within a hundredth of a penny. However, some folks have decided to try their luck because the probability of an extraordinary rally is a non-zero number.
Back in the day before anyone knew anything about cryptocurrencies, one Laszlo Hanyecz, a software engineer and early blockchain investor, paid 10,000 units of Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD) for two pizzas. Based on a possible price of $20 total, that would imply that BTC was trading hands at 0.2 cents.
Of course, at Bitcoin’s peak price of around $64,000, those two pizzas were essentially worth $640 million.
Thus, I can appreciate the words of my InvestorPlace colleague David Moadel. “Just for fun, you could buy a million Shiba Inu coins instead of a cup of coffee.”
Yes, you could. But should you?
The Price Isn’t the Only Thing to Consider About Shiba Inu
In principle, I don’t disagree with Moadel. I’ve probably given the same argument about penny stocks in the past. However, cryptos like Shiba Inu may be a special case, particularly because of the speculative environment.
Unfortunately, with the social media craze, it’s far too easy for many younger folks to get carried away. And so, what starts off as one cup of coffee soon escalates into a French café franchise, largely because it’s possible – as Bitcoin in its early days proved – to make it big. Ridiculously big.
Not helping matters is that Shiba Inu predecessor Dogecoin (CCC:DOGE-USD) – ah yes, the one that started it all! – has also minted quite a few daring millionaires. When you have respectable mainstream outlets like CNBC interviewing so-called Dogecoin millionaires, it only feeds the frenzy known as fear of missing out (FOMO).
I’m not going to point fingers because I know what it’s like. I am grateful, though, that I knew when to call it quits. Truthfully, some others have to learn the hard way and that’s a tough pill to swallow.
If the inherent volatility of Shiba Inu isn’t enough to make you think twice, consider this: a growing number of crypto exchanges and wallets, including famous ones like Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) have either listed or otherwise added some kind of support for the token. Therefore, based on the law of small numbers – heck, the law of infinitesimally small numbers – SHIB-USD should fly.
Instead, the response has been downright muted. Could it be a case of buy the rumor, sell the news? Absolutely. But the folks that are the most amped up about Shiba Inu and its ilk don’t seem the type to look a gift horse in the mouth. Indeed, these are the type of announcements that SHIB supporters would repost till they grew calluses on their fingers.
Check Your Emotions Before Proceeding
Going back to my colleague’s point, could you abstain from going out to your favorite barista and instead become a Shiba Inu millionaire (at least as far as its nominal unit basis is concerned)? Of course you can, if that’s all you’d be doing.
However, in many if not most cases, there are underlying circumstances going on that would cause someone to gamble on something like SHIB. And believe me – there are many horror stories about people who got too carried away with their speculation and it ruined them.
Plus, what’s most dangerous about wagering on Shiba Inu is that the underlying platform is decentralized. This is a 24/7/365 casino, with the only disruption coming from your local utility provider. At least with the stock market, there’s an opening time and a closing time. You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.
That’s not the case with Shiba Inu. It will take as much money as you’re willing to give it. And apparently, it doesn’t matter how much money you feed it – it’s not moving anywhere. Hopefully that will sober you up. If not, maybe get a crypto equivalent of a designated driver.
On the date of publication, Josh Enomoto held a LONG position in BTC and DOGE. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
A former senior business analyst for Sony Electronics, Josh Enomoto has helped broker major contracts with Fortune Global 500 companies. Over the past several years, he has delivered unique, critical insights for the investment markets, as well as various other industries including legal, construction management, and healthcare.
