By Tanya CarTer Reporter 16:39, 28 Oct 2021: The value of the cryptocurrency has been rocketing this week as investors think it could soon be easier to trade - despite it starting as a jokey reaction to another digital coin and an internet meme

The price of cryptocurrency Shiba has hit a record high after tripling since Sunday - despite being dismissed as a joke by many. The coin has risen from £0.0000020 on Sunday to a record peak of £0.000065 today, according to cryptocurrency website Coinbase. The cryptocurrency is now worth around £27.8billion in total.

The price of cryptocurrency Shiba has hit a record high after tripling since Sunday - despite But what is Shiba Inu, and what is the reason for its rapid rise?

 The cryptocurrency started as a humorous nod to the cute Shiba Inu dog breed, which in turn led to the 'Doge' internet meme. This meme led to the creation of another jokey cryptocurrency, Dogecoin - and the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency is also a reaction to that. The new cryptocurrency was launched just last August by a creator known only as Ryoshi - based in China.

The Shiba Inu cryptocurrency has been boosted in the past by billionaire Tesla boss Elon Musk - who is also a crypto fan. Earlier this month Musk tweeted a photo of his Shiba Inu puppy, which started the ball rolling with a rise in the price of the currency.

Is the price of Shiba Inu going to keep rising - or is it a flash in the pan? Let us know in the comments below Much of the current rise in Shiba Inu is due to speculation it could soon be listed on trading platform Robinhood.

Where can I get Shiba Inu?

You can buy Shiba Inu on cryptocurrency trading platforms like eToro, Binance and Coinbase - though Binance is not available in the UK.

Bitcoin , the biggest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $1.2 trillion, was up around 4%, but below its record high from last week. read more

Known as "shib" to a growing army of retail investors, shiba inu coins are worth a fraction of a cent. Its website calls it "a decentralised meme token that has evolved into a vibrant ecosystem".

Driving the gains, analysts said, is the promise of quick gains - a key factor behind the broader explosion of cryptocurrencies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Others said crypto-specialist market makers were trading large volumes of the token.

"People are always looking for 'the next Bitcoin'," said Mati Greenspan, founder of crypto analysis and advisory firm Quantum Economics. "Get rich quick is a very powerful motivator."

Expectations of more mainstream acceptance was also driving gains with talk the meme-based cryptocurrency could be traded on a major retail brokerage.

"Shiba has posted incredible gains on speculation that it will rival or replace the concept of dogecoin and its utility," said Chris Kline, co-founder of Bitcoin IRA.

But while shiba inu has attracted new investors to the market, its lack of any real use case makes its sky-high valuation tough to justify, said Jack McDonald, CEO of PolySign, a digital asset custody solutions firm for institutional investors.

"While shiba inu has made people some fortunes lately, I don't want to be holding this when the music stops," he said.

About Shiba Inu

Shiba Inu (ticker: SHIB), also known informally as Shiba Token, is a decentralized cryptocurrency created in August 2020 by an anonymous person or persons known as "Ryoshi".^[1]

Shiba Inu (柴犬) is a Japanese term for a breed of dog; it is the dog that is depicted in Dogecoin's symbol, which itself was originally a joke cryptocurrency based on the Doge meme.^[2]

Shiba Inu was created in August 2020, dubbing itself the 'dogecoin killer'.^[1] On 13 May, Vitalik Buterin donated more than 50 trillion SHIB (worth over $1 billion at the time) to the India COVID-Crypto Relief Fund.^[3]

The exchange price of the cryptocurrency notably surged in early October 2021. Initially it increased over 55% after rumors of the launch of a decentralized exchange,^[4], its value continued rising with an increase of 240% over the week.^[5]

As of the 28th of October, 2021, Shiba Inu is up 139,779,387% in total.