Shiba inu, the challenger to dogecoin's meme-based crypto crown, has stormed into the crypto top ten in recent weeks.
Branded as the "dogecoin killer," shiba inu has rocketed on unfounded expectations trading app Robinhood and the crypto exchange Kraken could be about to list the memecoin.
This week, a shiba inu whale moved almost $3 billion worth shiba tokens from its original wallet, sparking fears some large holders could be about to cash out.
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Dogecoin and shiba inu have been battling for memecoin price supremacy in recent weeks.
"It looks like there were four transactions out of that account yesterday, each sending $695 million of shib to a different account—so a total of $2.78 billion," Tom Robinson, co-founder of blockchain forensics company Elliptic, told Bloomberg. "Whoever it is purchased the shib on Uniswap about a year ago, for not very much."
If large cryptocurrency holders—be it bitcoin, shiba inu or dogecoin—begin moving coins, traders can be spooked into thinking the market could be about to be flooded, potentially driving down the price. Last month, researchers warned "the bitcoin ecosystem is still dominated by large and concentrated players," making the cryptocurrency "susceptible to systemic risk."
The shiba inu coin price, still up 500% on this time last month, has lost 50% of its value over the last week. Shiba inu has soared amid wild speculation Robinhood could be about to add the cryptocurrency to its platform—something that would open up the market to millions of additional traders. Robinhood chief executive Vladimir Tenev poured cold water on these expectations, however, citing regulatory scrutiny.
Meanwhile, crypto exchange Kraken tweeted that if it gets "2,000 likes [on a tweet] we will list shib tomorrow." The post attracted over 80,000 "likes" but Kraken followed it up by saying: "There’s more work for us to do as we move through our listing review process."
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Shiba inu coin has lost around 50% of its value this past week while dogecoin has more or less ... [+]
As shib inu has struggled to hold onto its massive gains, dogecoin, itself breaking into the crypto top ten earlier this year in a similar price pump, has continued to receive support from Tesla
"Hype^Hype," Musk replied to dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus via Twitter, who had suggested "get-rich-quick people" would bail when "a new hype appears."
"Hype doesn't last, and it attracts get-rich-quick people who will bail once they get theirs and/or when a new hype appears," Markus tweeted. "If you want something to actually be worth more than what it is currently worth, add lasting value to it. Hype adds nothing."
Musk has adopted dogecoin as his pet project this year, calling on developers to submit upgrade proposals and for miners to update their software to the latest version. Musk has said dogecoin could "beat bitcoin hands down" if it lowers fees and speeds up transaction times.
