Shiba Inu (SHIB / USD) is an Ethereum-based altcoin that features the Shiba Inu—a Japanese breed of hunting dog—as its mascot. Shiba Inu has been touted as an alternative to Dogecoin by some; in fact, proponents of Shiba Inu claim it is “the Dogecoin killer.”

Shiba Inu and Dogecoin are meme coins, which means they are cryptocurrencies that derive their name and/or branding from some cultural theme—such as the Shiba Inu dog meme in the case of Shiba Inu. Usually these sorts of joke coins aren’t intended to be actual digital products with utility, but rather satirical creations.

Dogecoin may have been established in December 2013, but Shiba Inu wasn’t created until August 2020 by an anonymous individual or group calling themselves Ryoshi.

The key foundation principles of the Shiba Inu ecosystem are clarified in a “woof paper” (most likely a playful take on white paper), which can be found on the ShibaToken.com website.

The purpose for Shiba Inu’s development was to answer a question: “What would happen if a cryptocurrency project was 100% run by its community?” Its founder Ryoshi attributes its origins to an “experiment in decentralized spontaneous community building.” According to Ryoshi, the power of decentralization within a collective can build something stronger than what a centralized team could ever create.

The SHIBArmy consists of over 500,000 members who proudly uphold its founding principles:

• This project started with nothing and was created from scratch.
• Our company was not founded on an existing community or preassembled team; rather,
• A love of Shiba Inu dogs.

Shiba Inu token is based on Ethereum and hosted by the Ethereum blockchain. The Cryptopaper states that the Shiba project chose to stay decentralized by building their ecosystem on a well-established and secure platform.

SHIB’s Canine Terminology

Continuing with the dog theme, the Shiba Inu woof paper uses canine terms to describe how returns can be generated from one’s Shiba Inu tokens. On ShibaSwap, these tokens can be used for “digging” (providing liquidity), “burying” (stake tokens), and even “fetching” (exchanging one token for another). Tokens used in these strategies generate “Woof” returns in the form of Bone tokens that are distributed to token pools known as “Puppy Pools,” according to the woof paper.

Some cryptocurrency investors are interested in meme coins because they follow different rules than traditional investments. This rebellious approach may also extend to the use of canine terms instead of more conventional phrases like return on investment or liquidity.