Shiba Inu (SHIB) wants to be more than a meme. However, this seems difficult at the moment. A parabolic run emerged in the fall of 2021 that sent the SHIB up more than 1,000%. After that, the token continued to surprise market participants with its strength against the crypto bear market. SHIB was gaining its footing as a retail investor-backed meme coin. However, it outperformed many other established projects during the market downturn. Thus, it maintained its position among the top 20 cryptocurrencies. The Shiba Inu’s relative strength was due in part to its private, conservative base and online community.
Despite many misfortunes, SHIB has proven to be solid in the cryptocurrency market. As we reported as Kriptokoin.com, the project’s dev team has been working on over the past year to overcome Shiba Inu’s reputation as a hype token. Accordingly, they came up with a plan to help it evolve into a full-fledged crypto ecosystem. Now the team is working on four important developments. So where will these developments take the Shiba Inu?
4 important developments in the SHIB ecosystem
It caught public attention during the 2021 bull market. Then Shiba Inu’s developers aimed what started as a simple meme taenios to become a more legitimate project. So they made several attempts. So far, the Shiba Inu team has developed an Ethereum-compatible Layer 2 chain called Shibarium. Also, the cute collection of NFT avatars known as “THE SHIBOSHIS” is developing a Metaverse, a mobile play-to-win game. Recently, it has taken action to issue a stablecoin called SHI belonging to a Shiba ecosystem.
Metaverse and NFT
Progress is being made, albeit slowly. In November 2021, Shiba Inu’s first NFT collection, THE SHIBOSHIS, became available to fans. Fans rushed to print one of the 10,000 NFTs. So they created a whirlwind of hype by increasing Ethereum gas fees. In April, the Shiba Inu team sold 100,000 virtual plots for an upcoming Shiba Inu Metaverse project. While details about the Metaverse are scarce, that hasn’t stopped Shiba Inu loyalists from uploading to the virtual world. That said, Shiba Inu developer Shytoshi Kusama has a few brief updates on the project. Accordingly, the team will make SHIB Metaverse in partnership with a leading AAA game studio.
Shibarium is coming
Other plans, such as developing the Tier-2 Shibarium network, seem to be progressing as well. Blockchain company Unification will create the new network that will form the core layer of the Shiba Inu ecosystem. Shibarium will be optimized for gaming and will have lower fees and higher speed than Ethereum. Shibarium will launch its public beta later this year. It will also allow independent developers and users to fully interact with the network. Once fully released, all NFTs related to SHIB and Shiba Inu will be migrated to Shibarium. Thus, future ecosystem enhancements will start directly in the new layer-2 network.
Play-win game most anticipated move
However, it is the planned mobile play-to-win game that excites Shiba Inu fans the most. Announced at Shiba Inu Mania’s summit in November 2021, the as-yet-unnamed game is led by William Volk, who has more than 25 years of experience at top companies such as Activision and ROKiT. Like the SHIB Metaverse, little is available about the Shiba Inu game beyond Volk’s involvement. Volk shared his latest update three months ago on Twitter in an invitation to a face-to-face meetup. At the meetup, he released a teaser screenshot from the upcoming game.
However, we do have some more information. The game will take the form of a collectible card game similar to Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering. More recent updates suggest that Volk-led Shiba Inu Games and Australian studio PlaySide were involved in the game’s development. In the game, rewards can be won with TREAT, Shiba Inu’s new token.
Where is the Shiba Inu going?
Shiba Inu’s developers are dedicated to turning the token into a full-fledged crypto ecosystem. However, several factors have the potential to prevent them from achieving their vision. Shibarium and the card game created a stir within the Shiba Inu community. However, the concrete details of what was built and how it would work remain vague at best. Information comes from decentralized sources, often following the latest announcements. Additionally, Tokenomics looks dubious. Another concern is that many of the Shiba Inu ecosystem startups are copies of ideas previously pioneered by other cryptocurrencies. On top of all this, the current bear market and uncertainties also have the potential to damage the token.
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