Throughout my time covering Shiba Inu (CCC:SHIB-USD), I’ve mostly centered my arguments on its speculative frenzy.
While such a dynamic makes SHIB inappropriate for your everyday investor who focuses mostly on blue-chip equities, the volatility also presents upside opportunities — provided you get in at the right time. Of course, that’s much easier said than done.
Still, others have done it through similar platforms. As you’ve probably read, CNBC ran multiple articles on the so-called Dogecoin (CCC:DOGE-USD) millionaire.
The crazy thing about cryptocurrencies is that they seem to operate on an accelerated timeline. That is, the crypto complex may be the Dow Jones Industrial Average of the S&P 500, if you compressed their multi-decade (or multi-century) charts over a space of a few years.
Therefore, cryptos in general appeal to younger investors, who may not have the patience of prior generations. But Shiba Inu is particularly attractive for folks who don’t have much. Indeed, you can make the argument that SHIB was designed for the stereotypical starving college student. With a few Hamiltons, you can be a SHIB token millionaire.
While the above sentiment captures arguably the vast majority of the fervor over Shiba Inu, there are surely other stories to tell. One angle that I haven’t covered much is the founder of the project.
He goes by the name Ryoshi; the New York Post did a piece on him in October of this year. It noted that Ryoshi appears humble, downplaying his significance.
“I have said from the beginning, I am a nobody, I am not important,” stated the Shiba Inu founder.
Still, he is important in the sense that he’s catapulted a broader debate about the utility or necessity of the blockchain, whether he realizes it or not.
Shiba Inu May Have Become What It Wasn’t Intended to Be
According to the Post, “Ryoshi said the crypto token was ‘a gift to yourself’ that is supposed to help in the ‘process of self-actualization realized through the playing field of blockchain.’”
Further, the founder’s blog post stated, “With Shiba, we have from the beginning made very clear that no-one is in charge. There is no man accountable, no person responsible and no entity has the keys to the kingdom.”
Without intending to sound dismissive in any way, the above reads like classic blockchain 101. Note that Shiba Inu is supposed to be a gift to the individual, contrasting with the mainstream fiat currency system, which some academics warned has the potential to be usurious.
It’s not explicitly stated but the underlying message is that cryptos give, fiat currencies take. Thus, in some small way, Shiba Inu is part of the solution.
Granted, that may have been the intention. But as more and more people become aware of the possible opportunity in cryptos, the power structure will invariably change. Worse yet, it will change to the familiar tale of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.
The irony is that the mechanism of decentralization enables the power structure to be skewed so heavily toward the powerful and affluent. For instance, in a centralized financial architecture, a governing body can step in to prevent monopolization under a guiding moral principle. But there are no morals in the blockchain, just validations and invalidations.
It really makes you wonder about the broader applicability of the blockchain. Is the mere fact that a distributed database being decentralized enough to spark groundbreaking innovations? From what we see from Shiba Inu, it can’t even implement fairness and democratization without breaking its blockchain architecture.
It’s the Community That Matters
Ultimately, though, the philosophical musings of SHIB’s underlying blockchain doesn’t matter. My belief is that most crypto investors don’t really care about the nuances of different blockchain architectures, like most drivers not caring about how a car works, just that it does.
In that sense, Shiba Inu should rise above the tens of thousands of other crypto competitors out there. Because no matter what the founder intended or what applicability the SHIB blockchain has, the overriding reality is that, for now, the digital token has strong speculative potential. And that’s virtually all to do with its community.
We’ve already seen how community-driven initiatives can bring Wall Street to its knees. Now, I’m not suggesting that lightning can strike twice. But until SHIB is permanently knocked out of the game, you can’t completely discount it.
InvestorPlace does not regularly publish commentary about cryptocurrencies that have a market capitalization less than $100 million or trade with volume less than $100,000 each day. That’s because these “penny cryptos” are frequently the playground for scam artists and market manipulators. When we do publish commentary on a low-volume crypto that may be affected by our commentary, we ask that InvestorPlace.com’s writers disclose this fact and warn readers of the risks.
Read More: How to Avoid Popular Cryptocurrency Scams
On the date of publication, Josh Enomoto held a LONG position in 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.
