Sometimes markets crown the brand that arrives first, but other times, the crown goes to whoever captures imagination, distribution, and momentum. In crypto, attention is thus a scarce resource that can compound faster than unique or even superior tech.
Shiba Inu (SHIB +5.40%) is a useful reminder of this. Launched in August 2020, it entered a dog-themed meme coin landscape that was already dominated by Dogecoin and still carved out staying power. It's worth knowing about because it's a case study in the nature of what a second-mover advantage is in crypto.
Image source: Getty Images.
This coin soared when it had no reason to
Today, Shiba Inu sits in the $7 billion range by market cap, a striking outcome given it shares the same segment as Dogecoin, which is far larger. The broader meme coin cohort itself is sizable, which means there is room for more than one brand to matter -- even in the absence of clear differentiation between assets.
After the coin was established, the team and community built the Shibarium, a Layer-2 (L2) chain designed to make on-chain activity cheaper and faster for the Shiba Inu ecosystem.
The Shibarium was mostly a flop. And yet, the coin lives on, even in the face of many new copycats, suggesting that its branding is a competitive advantage of sorts.
CRYPTO: SHIB
Key Data Points
Do not dismiss second movers
The lesson here is that when you evaluate any crypto segment, do not write off the well-capitalized second mover if it shows three traits that Shiba Inu has displayed at times: a large, persistent audience; credible distribution via major exchanges; and clear efforts to deepen its utility, even if those efforts fail.
That doesn't mean you should buy this coin today.
Meme assets are sentiment-sensitive and can underperform for long stretches, as enthusiasm is fickle. And Shiba Inu's investment thesis, to the extent that it exists at all, still rests more on its enduring brand energy rather than irreplaceable tech.
In short, remember the key principle is that uniqueness is optional, but adoption is not.
