The cryptocurrency space has experienced considerable volatility thus far in 2022 amid abounding risks. Meme coin Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB), which peaked slightly ahead of most of its peers in 2021, experienced a steep sell-off at the start of 2022.
For the year-to-date period, Shiba Inu has lost about 30% and is currently trading around the $0.000023 level, a far cry from its all-time high of $0.000088 reached on Oct. 28, 2021.
Following the U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike on Wednesday, the crypto market has bounced off its bottom and is seeing some strength. Shiba Inu has also towed in line with its peers.
Shiba Trends: Shiba Inu, named after the Japanese breed hunting dog, is trending on cryptocurrency price tracking website CoinMarketCap on Thursday. The trending list is compiled based on the number of people searching for a particular crypto.
The other coins in the most-searched list are Celo (CRYPTO: CELO), the native token of a blockchain ecosystem focused on increasing crypto adoption among smartphone users; Elon's Currency (CRYPTO: ELOC), which plans to become a top-100 coin and a way to pay for a Tesla; and PancakeSwap (CRYPTO: CAKE), a decentralized exchange (DEX) for swapping BEP20 tokens on Binance Smart Chain.
Related Link: Clamor For Adding Shiba Inu To Robinhood Grows Louder As The Meme Crypto Shoots For The Moon
What's Behind The Huge Interest In SHIB: Shiba Inu has a loyal following, often referred to as the Shib Army. Since Shiba Inu is built on the Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) blockchain, it can support DeFi exchanges and NFTs. The Shiba Inu ecosystem consists of three tokens, namely its own, Bone ShibaSwap (CRYPTO: BONE) and Doge Killer (CRYPTO: LEASH).
Shiba Inu has been seeing an increase in its adoption. As recently as this week, movie theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC) began accepting the meme coin as a payment option.
The use cases of the coin have also increased over time. In October 2021, the Shiba ecosystem released 1,000 NFTs called Shiboshis, which sold like hotcakes. Shiboshis are part of the Shiba Inu's gaming foray, with the NFTs used to play the Shiba Inu game. It also gives access to Shiba Inu's metaverse named the Shibverse.
The dog-themed coin has a few upcoming catalysts that can give it a nice lift, provided macroeconomics and geopolitics don't play spoilsports. The community is working on Shibarium, a layer 2 solution that sits on the Ethereum blockchain. Shiba Inu tokens can migrate to the new blockchain, which will help overcome congestion and Ethereum's higher transaction feels.
The community has long been clamoring for the addition of Shiba Inu to the retail trading app Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ:HOOD). If this catalyst materializes, it could give a real thrust to Shiba Inu.
At last check Thursday afternoon, Shiba Inu was seen trading up 1.84% at $0.00002243.
Related Link: How to Buy Shiba Inu Coin
