Shiba Inu (CCC:SHIB-USD) bulls are having a field day. In the last few weeks, we finally see some developments that will help it emerge from the shadow of Dogecoin’s (CCC:DOGE-USD) success and carve out its own niche.
The recent developments will ensure Shiba Inu does not remain a purely speculative cryptocurrency pursued by short-term traders looking to scalp profits. Instead, with the latest updates, SHIB will get what every crypto needs to stay relevant, inherent utility.
First, Shiba Inu developers revealed SHIB is now an accepted payment method for NFTs (non-fungible tokens) on OpenSea. Users can also sell their own NFTs and earn more SHIB as well.
In addition, the crypto is seeing two big changes to its protocol; a reduction per block of the protocol’s governance token, Bone (CCC:BONE-USD), and new reward distributions to its Shiba Swap decentralized exchange.
Recently, Shiba Inu has come under severe selling pressure, just like other digital assets. But these changes ensure the digital asset will bounce back shortly.
How Will the Changes Impact Shiba Inu?
The main question people often ask when comparing cryptocurrencies is whether there is an inherent value to them. For example, Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD) was created as an alternative to national currencies and thus aspires to be a medium of exchange and a store of value.
Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD), on the other hand, is a ledger technology that is being used by businesses to create new programs.
SHIB did not have any inherent value to speak of for a while, but now that is changing. The token is not used for any specific purpose; the whole Shiba ecosystem exists only to promote the token and help it gain value.
Investors now have a reason to allocate capital to this one. As mentioned in my intro, devs broke the news through the Shiba token Twitter that SHIB is an accepted payment method for NFTs on OpenSea.
OpenSea is one of the largest and most popular NFT sales platforms, so it makes sense why investors are going gung ho over the announcement. The development will allow the token to see vast exposure.
Built-in Speculation
The most enticing element of Shiba Inu is its price, which is $0.0000068 today. Granted, that can change on a dime because of the nature of cryptocurrency.
Elon Musk could tweet something, or there could be another company that allows you to pay for their products using the token. Therefore predicting where it’s going is a problem.
You could argue the same thing applies to Ethereum and Bitcoin. However, both of those cryptos are attracting substantial interest from institutional investors, which is why the price has stabilized somewhat. Yes, there still will be ups and downs, but you won’t see another slump similar to the 2017 bitcoin crash. Part of that has to do with the utility of these cryptocurrencies.
While there is speculation when it comes to the prices of these assets, there is also a utility for these tokens, which large financial institutions acknowledge. We cannot say the same for Shiba Inu at this stage.
In the future, things can change with upgrades, but for now, if you buy 1 million Shiba Inu, what you will likely be hoping for is a Dogecoin-like rally. That may or may not happen.
Keep the Golden Rule in Mind
There’s one golden investment rule you should always keep in mind: Never invest money that you can’t afford to lose. If you dedicate a large portion of your portfolio to Shiba Inu, you stand to get burned substantially because of the inherent risk and volatility of the space.
But for bulls, the recent upgrades finally provide some concrete reasons apart from pure speculation about why they are investing in this space.
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On the publication date, Faizan Farooque did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
Faizan Farooque is a contributing author for InvestorPlace.com and numerous other financial sites. Faizan has several years of experience in analyzing the stock market and was a former data journalist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. His passion is to help the average investor make more informed decisions regarding their portfolio.