Shiba Inu (SHIB -4.12%) has been a massive winner since its public launch in August 2020, as the meme token is up nearly 12,000,000% in the roughly three and a half years of its existence. This remarkable performance is despite Shiba Inu being down 89% from its all-time high.
As of Jan. 16, this dog-themed cryptocurrency's current price is $0.000009638. But its most bullish supporters might have their sights set on a much higher target in the not-too-distant future: Can Shiba Inu reach $0.01 by the end of 2024?
Not standing out from the crowd
While it was inspired by its predecessor Dogecoin, Shiba Inu's founders wanted this crypto to have more functionality, so they built it on top of the Ethereum network. This makes Shiba Inu compatible with a wide range of decentralized applications.
The key aspect that Shiba Inu has that Dogecoin doesn't is the ability to run smart contracts. And in theory, this should have raised the former's utility.
However, this just hasn't been the case. Developers, who are arguably the most important stakeholder when it comes to any blockchain network, aren't really focused on advancing Shiba Inu. According to a report from venture firm Electric Capital, Shiba Inu doesn't even make the list of top 100 cryptocurrencies in terms of developer activity. This doesn't bode well for its future to bring about real-world use cases.
Some supporters are hoping that Shibarium, a Layer-2 scaling solution, can increase Shiba Inu's adoption. This upgrade is intended to lower transaction fees and boost throughput speeds.
This all sounds great in theory, but I don't see a true competitive edge that Shiba Inu has among the tens of thousands of other digital assets out there. For example, investors are likely better off by just adding Ethereum, Solana, or Cardano to their portfolios, which have greater potential than Shiba Inu, if they want exposure to a cryptocurrency that has smart contract functionality.
Missing the market's rally
Probably the most compelling reason to invest in Shiba Inu is because it has a fanatical group of supporters. The token's price has skyrocketed in past periods due to various hype cycles when interest has soared. But there are signs that strong investor enthusiasm could be ending.
Last year, which was a bounce-back one for the overall cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin skyrocketed 154%, with Ethereum surging 91%. Shiba Inu failed to rise along with other digital tokens, as its price was up by about 32% in 2023.
Investors who are betting on a renewed sense of interest among the crypto community should probably be more realistic. How can one reasonably expect Shiba Inu to rise significantly in price if it can't even outperform the overall industry in a raging bull market?
Temper expectations
If Shiba Inu's price were to hit $0.01 by the end of this year, that would translate to a ridiculous return of more than 10,000,000% in less than 12 months. This would certainly outpace any other financial asset out there, and it would make some bold investors extremely rich in short order.
It's best to temper expectations, though. At one penny per token, Shiba Inu's market cap would equal just under $5.9 trillion (based on the current token supply). This is more valuable than some of the most dominant companies in the world, including Microsoft, Apple, and Tesla. I don't think someone can argue with a straight face that Shiba Inu, which might have no real reason to exist in the first place, can be worth more than these massive businesses.
Not only is it unlikely that Shiba Inu reaches $0.01 in 2024, I suspect that it will never hit this mark.
