DogeCoin made headlines with the help of the infamous Elon Musk, who recently dropped the bomb that Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is no longer accepting Bitcoin as payments. Prior to this, his appearance on SNL reframed DOGE, the beloved public meme coin, as a “hustle, a people’s hustle,” which saw the price fall sharply. Still, Vitalik Buterin, the Founder of Ethereum, was given the opportunity to become the “Shiba King” and rebutted with class.
A meme’s coin’s value to the public is ephemeral and valuable as long as investors are financially benefitting from them. Still, a new breed of “dog” coins fixed themselves as alternative meme coins geared towards a different segment of the crypto space. Shiba Inu, the primal rival of DogeCoin, rose by 760%, outperforming Doge before listing on the reference exchange, Binance.
Popularity Does Not Fit Vitalik
Elon Musk’s connection with DogeCoin, brings forth legitimate questions about his holding as he helped pump its price beyond expectations. Vitalik Butterin was faced with a similar dilemma when Shiba Inu’s developer sent 50% of all tokens to a public Ethereum wallet owned by Vitalik.
Vitalik was gifted three tokens last year from ShibaSwap, which is the original creator of Shiba Inu. In addition to SHIB token, the company also sent Akita Inu (AKITA) and Dogelon Mars (ELON). Vitalkins token holding came as part of a token distribution strategy that didn’t pan out how the developers wanted.
The publicity stunt was beneficial for Shiba Inu as its price rose exponentially, some even claiming to have made $5.9 million from a $17 dollar investment. The reasoning behind the token allocation took into account Vitalik’s affinity to burning tokens, which would decrease the liquidity of Shiba Inu, thus reinvigorating trust in the project.
With a net worth of 333,000 ETH or over $1.3 billion, the 28-year-old billionaire was, in theory, supposed to “burn” the tokens. As digital philanthropy is a growing trend among tech-geniuses, Vitalik donated his airdropped token to charitable organizations. Not only that, but Vitalik took most of the liquidity from Uniswap, decreasing the pool’s value from 14,000 ETH to just 900 ETH.
After selling 660 billion SHIBA, 140 billion AIKITA, and 43 billion ELON, Vitalik amounted to a total of 5,712 ETH and dropping the prices of the coins. In fact, what happened was an inverse rug-pull, this time around with a good cause as Vitalik eyed troublesome areas with funding.
In a tweet, Hudson (NYSE:HUD) James lists Vitalik’s donations and the amounts ascribed to each of them. He sent 13,392 ETH to Givewell. He also sent 1000 ETH and all ELOND tokens to Methuselah Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on increasing the human lifespan. Additionally, he sent 1050 ETH to MIRI as well as sending 500 ETH and 10% of SHIB to a crypto relief fund to aid the ongoing COVID crisis in India. Polygon founder created the India Covid Relief Fund to help aid the crisis provoked by the covid pandemic in the recent month. Vitalik also spent some “pennies” on organizations such as Charter Cities or Gitcoin.
On the Flipside
- SHIBA is a new project listed on popular exchange Binance pushed by user demand and financial growth opportunity for the exchange.
- If the hype continues to grow and Meme coins don’t find an ending, it could be detrimental for networks as it clogs activities
- The price of SHIBA decreased after Vitalik withdrew parts of it.
- The promise of big financial gains is apparent only on paper, as there is not enough liquidity in the market to match the order/demand on a 1 to 1 scale.
There Shouldn’t Be a Second DogeFather
Meme coin creators on the Ethereum network copy SHIBA’s PR move and continue sending tokens to Vitalik’s public address. While there is nothing wrong with proving to your followers your credibility, Vitalik is not keen on reviving the “DogeFather” title. What’s more, due to high traffic on the ETH blockchain, data shows that transaction prices have gone up again, and many blame SHIBA and other meme coins for the price fiasco – again.
Meme coin’s bear value for the decentralized youth community because Elon Musk generated inefficient hype, which eventually debunked, creating a financial ripple in the market. The second coming of the dog father is not welcomed by blockchain savvy enthusiasts as it gamifies the entire ecosystem. Not only that but the highly speculative value of, in theory, “useless coins” adds fuel to economists who back the ideology of a Bitcoin bubble, creating more perception discrepancies.
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