October has been a spectacular month for meme cryptocurrencies as two of the market’s most hyped-up assets soared to eye-watering levels.
Founded in August 2020 by an anonymous developer called Ryoshi, Shiba Inu token is carefully designed to exploit popular dog memes on the internet.
According to Fortune magazine, the surge in buying may have started when Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk tweeted a picture of his recently adopted shiba inu puppy on October 4.
But despite the hype, Shiba Inu doesn’t bring much that’s new to the table from a technical perspective.
According to the Coinbase exchange, Shiba Inu investors typically hold the token for just 11 days — in contrast to Bitcoin and Ethereum’s average hold times of 83 and 80 days, respectively.
But with increasing competition from rival meme coins and comparatively weak fundamentals, it will struggle to maintain its lofty valuation.
Unlike Shiba Inu, which is programmed on the Ethereum network, Dogecoin is a stand-alone blockchain.
And although Dogecoin’s typical 55-day holding time on Coinbase is significantly higher than Shiba Inu’s 14 days, the coin has a track record of extreme volatility, which makes it unsuitable as a medium of exchange because it exposes merchants to high exchange-rate risk.
And while speculation can lead to epic returns in the short term, eventually, the greater fool may be the last fool.