Another Dump Incoming? Shiba Inu Token Soars on High Volume After Musk Tweets

The meme coin shiba inu (SHIB) has exploded in price so far in October, and has already become one of the top 20 cryptoassets by market capitalization. The rise, which accelerated on October 4 with the help of Tesla chief Elon Musk, has happened on unusually large trading volume across Binance, Coinbase, and Huobi.

At 9:11 UTC, SHIB traded at USD 0.00002197, up a whopping 68% over the past 24 hours. For the past 7 days, the token is up 215%, making it the best weekly performer among the top 100 cryptoassets by market capitalization.

Moreover, its 24-hour trading volume surpassed USD 12bn, compared with dogecoin (DOGE)‘s USD 5bn, or ethereum (ETH)‘s USD 20bn.

However, SHIB experienced an even stronger rally this past May that ended with a sharp crash:

The latest gains in price for the token, currently ranked as number 19 on CoinGecko’s list of the most valuable cryptoassets, may have been helped by Tesla CEO and “dogefather†Elon Musk, who late on Sunday night US time took to Twitter to share a picture of a Shiba Inu dog:

Floki Frunkpuppy pic.twitter.com/xAr8T0Jfdf

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2021

The tweet from Musk followed an earlier tweet from June saying “My Shiba Inu will be named Floki,†as well as one in September that said “Floki has arrived†along with a picture of a Shiba Inu puppy.

Moreover, the rise in price also follows the announcement from the shiba inu community in late September that a new range of 10,000 randomly generated Shiba Inu-themed non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will be available for trading on the ShibaSwap decentralized exchange (DEX). 

Shiboshis are coming. Learn more about them, why you might want some $LEASH for the drop, and why I'm so pumped about @NOWPayments_io making Shib available in this new MEDIUM! https://t.co/gQhIdUJqVN

— Shytoshi Kusama™ (@ShytoshiKusama) September 24, 2021

As is often the case with meme coins, no other major news drivers that could explain the price pump have emerged so far. However, the community appears to be more than happy with the current market moves nonetheless, with members of the SHIBArmy subreddit saying things like “Keep going baby. I NEED to quit my job!!†and “I want to retire myself!!!!!â€

Created in August of 2020 by the pseudonymous developer ‘Ryoshi’ and originally promoted as the “dogecoin killer,†the SHIB token can be traded on the project’s own ShibaSwap DEX, as well as on a number of major centralized exchanges.

Built as an Ethereum-based token, half of the SHIB created were allocated to Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin’s wallet. Vitalik then proceeded to burn 40% of the total supply, while 10% was donated towards a COVID-19 relief effort in India.

With a market capitalization of USD 11.2bn, shiba inu is currently worth about one-third of the original dog-themed meme coin, dogecoin, which sits at USD 33.4bn, ranking 8 on the list of the most valuable crypto assets.

Prior to the latest pump in price, SHIB also rose by over 40% after Coinbase listed the meme coin on September 17.

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Learn more:
– Vitalik Buterin Shows Mercy To Shiba Inu As Meme Coin Halves In Price
– ‘DOGE Killer’ Shiba Inu Clogs Ethereum While Musk Lifts Dogecoin Again

– Dogecoin Wannabes Flood The Market With Pumps & Dumps
– Doge Meme NFT To Be Sold in Fractions, Starting Today