What happened
As of 12:06 p.m. EDT today, the price of Shiba Inu (SHIB -0.71%) had dropped nearly 33% over the last day after investors feared that one of the token's largest holders may dump its massive stake in the cryptocurrency.
So what
According to CoinDesk, an investor that owns 40 trillion Shiba Inu tokens that at one point were worth nearly $2.8 billion moved all of those holdings into new blockchain addresses, which are basically bank accounts for cryptocurrencies, stoking fears that the whale may sell its stake.
With Shiba Inu having a market cap of roughly $28.6 billion, a sale of this magnitude would clearly be tough for the market to absorb.
Fears of this nature will likely be a continuing problem for investors in Shiba Inu, as media outlets report that more than 70% of the token is owned by 10 crypto wallets, information that can be found publicly.
Now what
Shiba Inu, a token whose mascot is a Japanese dog breed, has never been a great investment, in my opinion. It's been labeled the Dogecoin (DOGE 0.65%) killer, a reference to another cryptocurrency that uses the Shiba Inu as a mascot and never appeared to be much more than a pump-and-dump scheme as well.
Shiba Inu is also up 70 million percent since its inception. I would not recommend investing in the token and would caution current investors that the token is likely to experience extreme volatility and fall much more.