This is not financial advice. This is for educational purposes only. Please note that cryptocurrency is a highly volatile asset class; only invest what you can afford to lose.
“How to buy Shiba Inu” is a trending question as crypto investors scramble to buy the new “Dogecoin killer.” Shiba’s social media hype skyrocketed after Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, legitimized Shiba Inu on May 10 by adding it to its list of supported coins.
The day before Binance listed $SHIB, it was trading at around $0.000014. On May 10, SHIB skyrocketed to an all-time high of $0.000037. That’s a 164% increase! If you were brave enough to invest $1,050 (75 million tokens worth) in SHIB on May 9, you would have made $1,725 in profit the next day.
As of Oct. 5, the “Dogecoin killer” is skyrocketing once again and many daredevil crypto investors are scrambling to get their hands on Shiba Inu. If you’re interested in buying the Dogecoin rival, stick around and we’ll show you the easiest, most efficient way to buy Shiba Inu.
What is Shiba Inu?
Shiba Inu coin is an ERC-20 token, a fancy way of saying that it runs on the Ethereum blockchain and utilizes the network’s smart-contract technology.
After perusing through Shiba Inu coin’s 22-page white paper (the pun-loving author calls it a “woofpaper”), the meme token’s main mission is to preserve one of the main tenets of cryptocurrency: decentralization. Decentralization prevents authoritative institutions (e.g. banks and governmental bodies) from monopolizing control.
“We believe through the power of collective decentralization, we can build something stronger than a centralized team could create,” SHIB’s founder Ryoshi (psuedonym) said. “A community-run token is nothing without the united individuals who give it purpose.”
The woofpaper also delves into why SHIB runs on Ethereum, explaining that it is a secure, well-established blockchain that lets SHIB remain independent of moderating forces.
Interestingly, the woofpaper revealed that 50% of SHIB’s token supply was sent to Vitalik Buterin’s wallet (Buterin is Ethereum’s founder). You’re probably wondering, “Why the hell would they do that?” The motive behind gifting Buterin Shiba tokens was not mentioned in the woofpaper, but according to Celebrity Net Worth, it was likely a publicity stunt. Benzinga, however, believes Shiba’s team gifted Buterin the coins to make SHIB more scarce. Both theories could be true.
The problem with Buterin’s large SHIB ownership is that if he decides to sell his tokens, SHIB’s price will experience a severe plummet — and that’s exactly what happened. On May 12, Buterin announced that he sold $1 billion worth of SHIB tokens for charity. Although Buterin’s shocking act was for a good cause, it unnerved SHIB token holders.
On May 16, to SHIB holders’ delight, Buterin announced that he burned 90% of his Shiba Inu coins, and planned to donate the remaining 10% to charity. Burning tokens increases scarcity, and as a result, the price is likely to go up. After a tumultuous week, there’s finally hope for Shiba Inu coin — the cryptocurrency dubbed “the Dogecoin killer.”
Where to buy Shiba Inu
There are several platforms where you can buy Shiba Inu, including Binance, Crypto.com, Atomic Wallet and KuCoin.
You can also buy SHIB on Uniswap (via Trust Wallet), which requires you to exchange Ethereum for SHIB. For this tutorial, we will be focusing on KuCoin.
You can find the full list on where to buy Shiba Inu here (scroll down to “Shiba Inu Markets”).
How to buy Shiba Inu
The easiest way to buy Shiba Inu coin is via the KuCoin exchange. Before you can get your hands on Shiba Inu, you’ll need to purchase something called USDT (Tether). I know this may sound complicated, but I can assure you that the process is super easy. Once you’ve made a KuCoin account, here’s how to buy Shiba Inu.
1. Sign into your KuCoin account.
2. Click on “Buy Crypto” on the top-left corner and click on “Credit/Debit Card.”
3. Under “I Want to Spend,” input the amount of USDT you’d like to purchase.
4. Under “I Want to Buy,” click on the drop-down menu and select USDT.
5. Next, select your payment method (e.g. Visa/MasterCard) and payment channel.
6. Tick the “Disclaimer” button and click “Confirm.” Follow the prompts to finish the payment process.
Swapping USDT for Shiba Inu
1. After a minute or two, you should find your USDT in your Main Account, which you can locate by going to Assets > Main Account.
2. Click on the “Transfer” button next to USDT to switch your USDT over to your Trading Account.
4. Next, go to your Trading Account and confirm that your USDT is there.
5. Click on “Markets” to get started on swapping USDT for Shiba Inu.
6. On the far right, type in “SHIB” into the search bar.
7. Click on the SHIB-USDT trading pair.
8. At this point, you may be prompted to input your trading password.
9. Once you’ve confirmed your trading password, click on Market on the lower-right quadrant.
10. In the “Buy SHIB” section, click on the 100% button, which will ensure that all of your USDT is swapped for SHIB. If you prefer to put in a custom amount, you can do so in the Amount field.
11. Click on “Buy SHIB.”
Follow the prompts to complete the purchase, and voila, you now own Shiba Inu coin!
How to buy Shiba Inu in New York and other crypto-unfriendly states
Unfortunately, if you live in New York or other crypto unfriendly territorities, it’s difficult to secure some cryptocurrencies. Although Shiba Inu was previously inaccessible to New Yorkers on Coinbase, residents can now purchase the dog-inspired token on the platform.
Gemini is also allowing New Yorkers to purchase Shiba Inu on its platform, too.
As always, make sure to exercise caution when buying crypto. It’s a risky asset class.
