New Shiba Inu Token aims to piggyback on memecoin frenzy

The success of meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin this year has given rise to several copycat cryptos seeking to piggyback on its sudden success, with one digital coin being more open with its intentions than most.

The Shiba Inu Token, named after the dog breed that also serves as the symbol of Dogecoin, has recently achieved listings on a number of exchanges popular with Chinese crypto investors, Huobi, Binance and OKEx.

READ: A Tesla for a Dogecoin?: Musk asks Twitter followers

Despite the seemingly obvious attempt to cash in on Dogecoin’s new reputation, investors piled into Shiba on Monday when it listed on Binance, with the token’s value having risen around 38% so far this week.

However, this new dog on the block, much like Dogecoin before it, appears to have no fundamentals underpinning its value, instead serving as a purely speculative tool riding the wave of crypto fever sweeping markets around the world.

Shiba has also benefitted from several Chinese influencers backing the crypto publicly, much like Dogecoin has seen with its own endorsement from Tesla boss Elon Musk, comments from whom have frequently caused massive swings in the price.

READ: Crypto scammers make off with thousands in fake Elon Musk Twitter giveaway

However, the emergence of other ‘Doge-like’ cryptos is likely to increase calls for better oversight and regulation of the crypto industry as more digital tokens like Shiba with no fundamental technological underpinning, often referred to as ‘s**tcoins’, proliferate on exchanges.

The prospect of scams in the still mostly unmonitored crypto market was also thrown into relief last weekend after scammers made off with around US$100,000 in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin after concocting a fake giveaway on Twitter ahead of Musk’s appearance on US sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL).