Tag: Dogecoin

Bitcoin’s 160% rebound in 2023 is a gamble on ETF demand shock

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The sense of doom that gripped crypto markets at the end of 2022 following a $1.5 trillion wipeout has 12 months later given way to a very different sentiment: avarice.

Bitcoin stormed back with a more than 160% advance this year that added some $530 billion to its market capitalization.

In its wake, myriad smaller tokens ranging from Sam Bankman-Fried-backed Solana to dog- and frog-themed memecoins took off as investors embraced risk again. An investor who bought $1,00,000 of Solana at the start of 2023 would now be sitting on a more than $8,00,000 gain.

Underpinning much of the bonanza is optimism that US regulators will soon give their first blessing for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that invests directly in Bitcoin. Investors will find out by January 10 if that bet, which crypto bulls consider a near-certain winner, pans out.

“The approval of the spot ETFs is going to be a major catalyst, it’s going to definitely drive a demand shock” as mainstream investors currently lack a “high bandwidth, compliant” investment channel for the token, Michael Saylor, co-founder of Bitcoin holder MicroStrategy Inc., said on Bloomberg Television.

Digital-asset markets still have plenty of detractors who argue cryptocurrencies are fundamentally worthless and a haven for criminals. Binance, the largest exchange, in November agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine for a range of violations and Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao was forced to step down. Bankman-Fried has been jailed for fraud at FTX, and liquidity has yet to fully recover from the collapse of his empire.

Bitcoin’s rally this year topped stocks and gold. Supporters say a quadrennial event due in 2024 known as the halving — or halvening — will curb supply growth, providing a prop for the token alongside potential ETF demand. The dominant cryptocurrency is still trading well below its November 2021 record of almost $69,000.

Bitcoin miners Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. and Riot Platforms Inc., top US crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc. and software-company-turned-Bitcoin-investor MicroStrategy all jumped as crypto markets recovered. Coinbase’s almost 400% gain weathered a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly running an unregistered platform, an accusation the company contests.

Bitcoin derivatives saw a burst of activity in 2023. Bitcoin options open interest on Deribit — the largest crypto options exchange — exceeded $16 billion for the first time in December, according to CCData. Bitcoin futures open interest also hit landmark levels at CME Group, which is now vying with Binance to be the top marketplace for such instruments.

The decentralized finance sector has yet to recover from the more than $40 billion collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin project in 2022. One exception is liquid staking, where the total value of locked assets rose to a record this year, data from DefiLlama show. Liquid staking protocols offer easier access to the rewards earned when tokens are pledged to help operate blockchains. Staking grew in popularity on Ethereum after the network’s Shanghai update in April.

Weekly trading volumes for nonfungible tokens — digital collectibles — have climbed off lows of less than $50 million in October, reaching about $180 million this month, according to figures from Nansen. But they are a fraction of the $1.8 billion peak seen in 2022, suggesting crypto generally has much work to do to reignite the level of interest the sector attracted during the pandemic, when the world was awash with stimulus.

While Bitcoin’s price has jumped, the crypto market still shows scars from the collapse of Bankman-Fried’s FTX platform and his trading house Alameda Research in November 2022. The wipeout contributed to a drop in liquidity, making the token harder to trade.

Market depth, or the crypto market’s ability to shoulder relatively large orders without unduly impacting prices, illustrates the problem. The daily value of trades falling within 1% of the mid-price of Bitcoin on centralized exchanges has dropped 55% to about $680 million from as much as $1.5 billion in April last year, Kaiko data shows.

There have been big shifts in the market share of crypto exchanges this year. Binance remains the largest venue but its share of spot trading fell to about 44% by mid-December from over 65% at the start of 2023, according to Kaiko. Asia-focused platforms like Upbit, Bybit and OKX picked up much of the business Binance lost.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Five worst cryptocurrency rug pulls scams in history  

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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If you are familiar with the cryptocurrency space, you may have heard of the term ‘rug pull’. If not, here’s a quick recap. Rug pulls are tactics employed by scammers who initially promote their project by promising high returns, but then vanish with investor funds, leaving no trace behind.

Those new to the crypto space may wonder that such occurrences must be rare, but unfortunately, that is not the case. Rug pulls or exit scams accounted for over 35 percent of all crypto scams in 2021, draining about $2.8 billion in funds, according to blockchain research firm Chainalysis.

With that in mind, let us explore the most notorious crypto rug pulls witnessed by the industry so far.

Also read: 3 altcoins that outperformed Bitcoin’s Sunday surge

OneCoin

OneCoin was launched in 2014 with the ambition of becoming a “better Bitcoin”. The company gained significant attention when its CEO, Ruja Ignatova, also known as ‘Cryptoqueen’, appeared at Wembley Stadium in front of an audience of 90,000 people in 2016. Around the same time, OneCoin even surpassed Bitcoin’s market capitalization by 50 percent.

However, it was later discovered that OneCoin was not the revolutionary “Bitcoin killer” it claimed to be, but rather an elaborate Ponzi scheme disguised as a multi-level marketing operation. It was believed that OneCoin defrauded people out of more than $4 billion.

During the nascent stage of cryptocurrency in 2015, when scams were relatively easier to execute, Ignatova capitalised on the hype surrounding OneCoin. She sold fraudulent educational courses that purported to teach participants the process of mining OneCoins, which ultimately turned out to be a worthless digital asset.

With her impressive credentials, including a PhD and experience at top consultancies, Ignatova gained widespread recognition for OneCoin. She even appeared in the Bulgarian edition of Forbes, making it challenging for people to question its legitimacy.

In 2018, authorities raided OneCoin’s headquarters in Sofia, Bulgaria, resulting in the arrest of co-founder Sebastian Greenwood and Ignatova’s brother, Konstantin Ignatov. However, Ruja Ignatova managed to evade capture and was recently added to the FBI’s most-wanted list. The investigations into the OneCoin scam are still ongoing.

Thodex

On April 22, 2021, Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex abruptly ceased its operations without any prior notice, leaving the funds of 391,000 active traders locked on the platform. The exchange later posted on Twitter that this decision was made due to an external investment that required the suspension of trading for a period of 4-5 days.

A day before this development, Thodex CEO Faruk Fatih Özer fled the country and deleted his social media accounts. Furthermore, the company ceased all customer support services. It was later estimated that the total amount of funds trapped in the platform ranged between $2 to $10 billion.

Shortly before disappearing, Thodex ran a marketing campaign where it rewarded every new signup with 150 Dogecoins, resulting in a significant influx of funds. Between March 15 and April 15, 2021, the platform experienced its highest-ever daily trading volume, reaching a staggering $1.37 billion.

Unfortunately, this incident turned out to be a horrifying rug pull, leaving many investors in a state of shock.

Also read: Has Blur already displaced OpenSea as the most used NFT marketplace? What data says on OpenSea VS Blur

Anubis Dao

AnubisDAO was introduced in October 2021 and positioned itself as a part of OlympusDAO, a decentralised reserve currency supported by liquidity provider fees and bond sales.

Within a week of its launch, a staggering $60 million worth of ETH vanished from the project’s liquidity pool. Investors had initially invested this capital in the token sale and had received ANKH tokens in return. However, within a mere twenty hours of the sale, the liquidity in the pool was transferred to a different address and the funds were never recovered.

One investor, Brian Nguyen, experienced a loss of $470,000. In an interview with CNBC, he said that he was attracted to the project due to its dog-themed logo, reminiscent of the hype surrounding coins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.

Luna Yield

In August 2021, DeFi yield aggregator Luna Yield disappeared with customer funds, defrauding investors of $6.7 million. This incident occurred merely two days after the project’s launch. Shortly after its sudden exit, the project’s website and social media accounts vanished.

The developers of the cross-chain project carried out the scam by conducting multiple transactions involving WETH, WBTC, LUNY, and USDT, which were subsequently transferred to an anonymous Tornado wallet. Tornado is a cryptocurrency mixer used for facilitating anonymous transactions.

Luna Yield had initially launched its project through SolPAD, a Solana-powered fundraising platform. This launch served as the project’s second initial DEX offering (IDO), following Solstarter. An IDO involves a blockchain project selling a new cryptocurrency to raise funds, and in this case, it was the LUNY token.

StableMagnet 

In June 2021, the StableMagnet team orchestrated a theft of $27 million, leaving their users in shambles. What made this scam distinct from other rug pulls was the manipulation of smart contracts.

Block explorers like Etherscan perform code verification to ensure that the listed source code matches the actual code stored on the blockchain. However, the StableMagnet team deployed a smart contract that claimed to use the functions from one particular contract while actually utilizing a different smart contract.

This tricked blockchain explorers into incorrectly verifying the posted source code, which made the smart contact appear legitimate. Exploiting this loophole, StableMagnet used a hidden backdoor in their smart contract to drain value from the protocol.

Conclusion

Rug pulls continue to rear their ugly head even in 2023. Just last week, the Swaprum rug pull incident defrauded investors of $3 million. Unfortunately, exit scams have become increasingly common due to the rapid emergence of new DeFi projects and poor security measures that are unable to keep up with the industry’s technological advancements.

While keeping an eye on new projects can be a way to stay ahead and potentially earn good returns, it is crucial not to overlook red flags, such as overly promising schemes, or projects lacking a whitepaper and proper information on team members. Diligence and thorough evaluation are essential to avoid falling victim to a rug pull.

Also read: Here are some common mistakes cryptocurrency startups should avoid

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

A quick guide on how to make your own meme coin

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

You may have come across the term ‘meme coins’ when browsing the different cryptocurrencies on the market. If you haven’t already, let us quickly refresh your mind.

Meme coins are a popular term for cryptocurrencies that are inspired by widely circulated memes on social media. The way they can be created might sound simpler than you would expect.

A quick reminder here is that you need not have any coding experience to build your meme coin. First, you find an interesting meme and use the same to model your meme coin.

Also read: A quick guide on how to verify your crypto transaction

Then, promote it within the crypto community, create a liquidity pool, and let the trading begin.  If you are curious about creating your own meme coin, continue reading to learn more.

Steps to Create your own meme coin

Investing in meme coins can be a way to potentially earn significant returns. The key is to discover a meme coin with high potential and invest in it before the hype takes hold.

However, this can be challenging. On the one hand, it is difficult to locate a new meme currency with the potential to soar in value, and on the other hand, it is risky to invest in pricey current meme coins with the potential to crash in value if the frenzy behind it fades.

But there is an alternate solution: try your hand at creating your own meme coin.

Step 1: Branding and Website

The first step in creating your own meme coin is to focus on branding and establishing a website. This involves choosing a catchy and humorous name for your meme coin, along with a logo that represents it. You have the freedom to be creative.

Next, use social media awareness to choose a name and logo that has already generated interest among people.

After finalizing your name and logo, the next step is to design a website for your meme coin. This website will serve as a crucial source of credibility for people interested in learning more about your token.

You can include various sections on the website, such as a roadmap and vision, to showcase the unique aspects of your token and set it apart from the market competition.

Step 2: Create the Meme Coin

To make your meme coin, you will need to create a smart contract and deploy it on a suitable blockchain. In this example, we will focus on using the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), although other options like Ethereum and Solana are also available.

Begin by creating an account on the Binance exchange and ensure that you have some funds available with you. Then, visit CoinTool, a platform that allows you to create tokens and connect your wallet. A form will appear, prompting you to provide details about your meme token, such as the token name, symbol, initial supply, decimals, and various configurations.

Also read: Which crash affected crypto more — FTX or Mt Gox

These configurations may include options like a burn mechanism, deflation, blacklist, and mint function.

For instance, if you choose to implement a burn mechanism, it means you can decrease the token supply by allowing tokens to be burned. Enabling the mint function allows for the creation of additional tokens, while the blacklist feature prevents certain accounts from engaging in malicious activities.

Once you have configured all the details according to your preferences, click on “Create Token.” This action will redirect you to the payment page, where you will need to click “Confirm” to successfully create your meme coin.

Finally, a pop-up will appear displaying the token address, which you can copy, or you can simply click “Confirm” one final time to access the BSCScan tab. Here, you will find a summary containing all the important details related to your newly created meme coin.

Step 3: Liquidity Pool and Community

Meme coins thrive on community engagement, so making your coins available to the public for purchase is crucial. To achieve this, you will need to create a liquidity pool using platforms like Uniswap. This step ensures that there is enough liquidity for people to buy and sell your meme coin.

The next important aspect is to promote your meme coin and build a community around it. A successful meme coin often has an interesting backstory, garners celebrity interest, and presents a promising roadmap. It should also have a robust ecosystem and offer utility to its holders.

Consider how you can leverage social media platforms to pitch your coin and develop a strong narrative that captures community interest. You can explore the option of building a decentralized finance (DeFi) project and incorporating your meme coin as part of that project to provide greater utility. There are numerous possibilities to make your meme coin more appealing to potential investors and enthusiasts.

Conclusion

At the time of writing, the meme coin market is valued at $18 billion, with Dogecoin and Shiba Inu sitting at the helm. Meanwhile, up-and-coming projects such as PEPE and Good Gensler have taken the community by storm in recent times.

Although several controversies surround meme coins, it is hard to argue that they do not provide any utility for investors.  If you want to build your own project from the ground up rather than investing in one that has already established a market presence, follow the steps in this guide to get started.

Also read: What you need to know about Dencun – Ethereum’s next planned upgrade

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

An assessment of how meme coins performed in April

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Meme coins have been in the limelight since the beginning of 2023. From Elon Musk replacing Twitter’s bluebird logo with Dogecoin’s mascot to the emergence of the Pepe Coin and Good Gensler, several developments took place during April, which propelled the demand for meme coins.

Here’s a look at how various meme coins such as Shiba Inu, Dogecoin, Floki Inu, and PEPE performed last month.

Pepe Coin

Pepe Coin, based on a popular meme, was a standout performer in April. The coin was launched on April 16, and in the final week of the month, it climbed by as much as 590 percent, from $0.000000213 to $0.00000148000.

Also read: What is the SUI token, and why has it come under the crypto spotlight recently

During the month, its market cap crossed $500 million, and the coin made its way to the 100 largest coins in the market. Two factors appear to have driven PEPE’s April rally. One is the community hype that continues to pick up following the token’s launch.

The second is listings on several cryptocurrency exchanges, including OKX, Huobi, Gate.io, and MEXC. Currently, PEPE is trading at 0.000001051, down by 22.76 percent in the last 24 hours.

Dogecoin

April was a highly volatile month for the biggest meme coin in the market, Dogecoin. When Elon Musk briefly changed the iconic Twitter bluebird logo to a Shiba Inu dog during the first week of April, Dogecoin soared by 30 percent and hit a near 4-month high at $0.104. However, the coin bottomed at around $0.081 once investors cashed out their gains.

The next surge did not start until April 13, when Twitter struck a deal with eToro to offer crypto trading. The development triggered a 13 percent spike in DOGE prices, which formed a 2-week high at $0.095 over the next few days. Once again, a correction occurred, dragging DOGE lower on the charts by 18 percent. Since then, DOGE has remained relatively flat, around $0.078.

For the month of April, Dogecoin gained around 3.65 percent. Currently, it is trading at $0.07837, down by 0.19 percent in the past 24 hours. 

Shiba Inu

Shiba Inu, the so-called “Dogecoin killer,” was not able to replicate Dogecoin’s success during April and ended the month down by 6.5 percent at $0.0000103. Although external developments did help its price to surge towards $0.00001186 by April 18, it fell by 14 percent from there once Bitcoin lost ground on $30,000 during the second half of the month.

Nonetheless, Shiba Inu will be under investors radar in the coming months on the back of ongoing developments, such as the upcoming layer 2 blockchain on Ethereum, known as Shibarium. Currently, SHIB is trading at 0.000009946, up by 0.56 percent in the last 24 hours, with a market cap of over $5 billion.

Floki Inu

Floki Inu, a Shiba Inu-inspired meme coin named after Elon Musk’s pet dog, witnesses price surges each time DOGE and SHIB are on the move. In January, FLOKI gained by 200 percent and hit $0.0000304 amidst news that its DAP proposal passed a vote to burn $100 million worth of FLOKI tokens. In February, its price surged by 90 percent and formed a high of $0.0000683.

Also read: How has Bitcoin reacted to the US banking crisis?

Although April was another positive month for FLOKI, it registered a subdued gain of 1.6 percent. The coin climbed by 56 percent on April 24, hitting a 2-month high of $0.00004944, following a listing on Binance US, a unit of crypto exchange, Binance.

However, a correction of 28 percent during the final week of the month dragged FLOKI to $0.0000313, nearly wiping out all the gains of April 24.

Currently, it is trading at $0.00003287, up by 4.33 percent in the last 24 hours, with a market cap of $319 million.

Similar to Shiba Inu, Floki Inu’s demand would also be driven by ecosystem developments in the coming months. The same depends on the success of its crypto education platform, ‘the University of Floki’, and whether the network can expand its NFT marketplace, ‘Flokiplaces’.

Conclusion

Meme coins are highly risky assets since they are most often driven by community hype and sentiment. However, in the case above, they are also driven by internal factors such as listing or ecosystem developments. However, one must remember that meme coins are speculative assets that require extensive research before investing.

Also read: Coach Such: Report suggests cryptocurrency to peak in 2024, but here’s whether its winter over or not

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Is the crypto winter over?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The global crypto market had a heyday in 2021 when its market cap briefly topped $3 trillion. However, a poor 2022 in which Bitcoin experienced multiple flash crashes left the market cap at the end of the year at only $900 billion. The market’s situation was infamously dubbed the ‘crypto winter’, a term used to describe a prolonged bear market.

Furthermore, high-profile crypto firm collapses, bankruptcies, and liquidations exacerbated the situation and eroded investor sentiment in the crypto market.

But the first quarter of 2023 brought about some positive changes. During the period, Bitcoin crossed the $30,000 mark after trading around $16,500 in early January. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s value also touched $2,000, nearly doubling from its June 2022 close of $1,071.

Also read: Everything you need to know about Optimism’s bedrock upgrade

Even altcoins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have had their moment in the spotlight and rallied alongside the leaders. So, this brings us to the next question: Is the crypto winter really over? Here’s what top analysts have to say about Bitcoin’s prospects this year.

Are bullish bets back for 2023?

The financial sector in the US experienced turbulent times and had a rough start in 2023. The unprecedented collapse of three crypto-friendly banks in early March, particularly Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate Bank, and Signature Bank made matters worse and prompted further regulatory scrutiny.

However, the price of Bitcoin and other top cryptocurrencies mostly remained steady during these events. This begged the question – Was the downfall of these banks caused by a drop in crypto prices or was there more to the story?

According to Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick, the recent banking crisis in the US would actually have a positive impact on Bitcoin and reinforce its concept as a decentralized and scarce asset.

The analyst indicated that Europe’s push for regulation is a positive development and should provide a tailwind for crypto. He believed that the much-touted crypto winter is finally over and that Bitcoin could touch the $100,000 figure by 2023 end.

Similarly, analysts at New York-based investment bank H.C Wainwright also declared that the crypto winter is over. Analyst Mike Colonnese even said that the crypto market had already entered its bull price cycle, with significant growth in crypto global market cap, institutional adoption, and increasing trading volumes.

Also read: Pancake Swap vs Uniswap — Which DEX leads in 2023

He backed his statement by saying that bullish sentiment has also increased due to the next Bitcoin halving event, which will take place in April 2024.

In fact, the three halving events that have occurred to date have had a favorable impact on Bitcoin prices, with the first resulting in a price increase of up to 100 percent. This month, financial services provider JPMorgan also predicted that Bitcoin prices would reflect an uptrend due to technical changes called “halving”.

Meanwhile, US Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, expressed his enthusiasm for Bitcoin’s recent recovery at the Bitcoin Policy Summit in Washington DC in February.

He stated that Bitcoin has maintained its dominance and disclosed that he purchases Bitcoin on a weekly basis. He also mentioned that he had taken advantage of recent market drops to increase his digital asset holdings.

While talking about general market movements, a well-known trader, Henrik Zeberg, took to Twitter to claim that every price drop was not a crash and believed that the declining prices presented an opportunity to increase long positions.

Although the trader made this statement in reference to a chart of the NASDAQ 100 stock index, he previously shared the same opinion about Bitcoin. When Bitcoin dropped by 9 percent a few weeks back, he tweeted that it was a chance to capitalize on a discounted price by going long. He maintained a bullish view by predicting that the cryptocurrency sector will rally over the summer.

Conclusion

According to recent statements, yes, the crypto winter could finally be over. Analytics firm Santiment also remarked that Bitcoin’s price is looking healthy from a fundamental standpoint and there are several reasons to be optimistic. Does this imply that the crypto spring will arrive soon? That is a long shot, to say the least.

Bitcoin’s price remains below crucial levels, and whether or not spring follows will be determined by its capacity to continue ascending the charts in the next months.

Also read: Here is how the NFT market fared in 2023 so far

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Explained: Can Shiba Inu overtake Dogecoin this year

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have shared the centre stage in the meme coin sector over the past few years. Both cryptocurrencies are part of the largest 15 coins by market cap and have continued to be pitted against each other by the community.

Although more than $6 billion in market cap separates the larger Dogecoin from its smaller rival Shiba Inu, additional data is needed to ascertain whether Shiba Inu will be able to outgrow Dogecoin this year. The article explores real use cases, ecosystem developments, and on-chain data to get a clearer picture of the difference between Shiba Inu and Dogecoin.

Utility battle between Dogecoin and Shiba Inu

Let us start with the basics, which is the utility that both coins have to offer. The utility is undoubtedly the most significant indicator of a project’s potential. Dogecoin’s greatest utility comes from the fact that it can be used as payment to procure goods and services. Since DOGE’s price increase in 2021 and subsequent rise in popularity, a number of businesses have started to accept DOGE as payment. Twitch, AirBaltic, AMC, Tesla, and GameStop are a few examples of such businesses.

Also Read: All about range-bound markets in crypto and common strategies to trade them

On the other hand, Shiba Inu’s utility comes from a variety of use cases. The project taps into the DeFi sector through its decentralised exchange (DEX) called ShibaSwap, which allows users to swap tokens, access liquidity pools, buy and sell NFTs, stake their tokens, and participate in governance. The recent release of Shibarium, Shiba Inu’s layer-2 scaling solution, will also facilitate the development of decentralized applications. The same is expected to bring in more investments over the long run.

Shiba Inu’s metaverse, which is likely to debut by the end of 2023, and a number of games including Shiba Eternity, Shiba Run, and Shiba March, all contribute to the project’s growth potential as well. In contrast to Dogecoin, each of these initiatives offers a unique use case.

Besides these factors, Shiba Inu’s utility is also derived from it being accepted as payment, similar to Dogecoin. Video game retailer GameStop, supermarket Whole Foods and animal products maker Petco are among the most prominent firms that accept SHIB as a viable form of payment.

On-chain data

Use cases only present one side of the story while on-chain data provides a more comprehensive picture. For instance, the number of daily active addresses (DAA) is commonly used to measure the state of a network. DAA is a measure of the total number of unique addresses that sent or received tokens on a particular day. A higher DAA count is indicative of a healthy network, which in turn points to a greater growth potential.

As per data tracker IntoTheBlock, the DAA on the Shiba Inu network has averaged between 5,000 to 6,000 transactions each day since the start of the year. In contrast, Dogecoin outshines its smaller rival. Dogecoin’s DAA has averaged well above 50,000 since January 1, suggesting that its network has attracted significantly more investors than Shiba Inu.

The biggest reason why Dogecoin has an upper hand over Shiba Inu is due to its early-mover advantage and more well-known celebrity endorsements, such as Elon Musk. The project has been around since 2013 and nearly 4 million holders currently own Dogecoin in their holdings, as of February 2023.

Meanwhile, Shiba Inu holders were last reported at 1.28 million, less than half that of Dogecoin. The smaller meme project was launched in 2020 and has had significantly less time than Dogecoin to create a name for itself among the community.

Also Read: Explained: Is investing in meme coins safe? 

Conclusion

The cryptocurrency industry is amidst a recovery in 2023, including the broader meme coin sector. On the back of a wider resurgence, Shiba Inu’s price has risen by more than 42 percent since the start of the year, as per Messari. In comparison, Dogecoin has risen by a smaller figure of over 30 percent.

However, despite higher percentage gains and greater use cases, Shiba Inu still falls short of Dogecoin’s dominance in the meme sector. Therefore, it may take longer than a year for Shiba Inu to close that over $6 billion gap in market cap and overtake Dogecoin.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Twitter changes logo to ‘Doge’, users react with hilarious memes

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Twitter’s classic blue bird logo has been replaced by a shiba inu dog image, which is associated with Dogecoin cryptocurrency. The new Doge meme logo of Twitter on late Monday evening left users and the internet confused. Users across the globe scrambled to report the change and make sense out of it initially. Twitter’s popular 17-year-old “blue bird” logo was swiftly updated into the face of a shiba inu dog, which is a prominent dog breed that has its roots in Japan.

Elon Musk swapped the logo with the shiba inu dog image as fulfillment of a promise he made earlier. Musk is known for his cryptic and promotional tweets about Dogecoin cryptocurrency.

Musk also shared one of his old tweets in which he had promised to make; changes to the Twitter logo, even much before entering into the deal with the microblogging platform.

pic.twitter.com/wmN5WxUhfQ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2023

He then revealed the reason behind the change and posted a screenshot of an old Twitter thread in which he said it would be very funny to him if he could buy Twitter and change its logo to Doge.

As promised pic.twitter.com/Jc1TnAqxAV

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2023

Twitter has made several changes to the platform, but the shift in the logo was not at all foreseen by the users.

Does anyone else see the #doge as the twitter logo? pic.twitter.com/F6aoROdIpH

— Schmally 🪐 (@jschmalhorst) April 3, 2023

Some users were trying to decode the hidden message that Musk was trying to convey.

“#DOGE logo now appears when you log onto Twitter. What is @elonmusk trying to tell us and how long will it stay there?” one user wrote.

#DOGE logo now appears when you log onto Twitter.

What is @elonmusk trying to tell us and how long will it stay there…. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/qZPyEvukec

— Nebraskangooner (@Nebraskangooner) April 3, 2023

While others were speculating that this was supposed to be an April Fool’s prank which took too long to roll out because Twitter is understaffed and the employees are overworked.

“I can only assume this was supposed to be an April Fool’s joke that took 3 days to roll out because no one knows how the site works anymore,” a user wrote.

Doge for some reason is showing up on Twitter and I can only assume this was supposed to be an April Fools joke that took 3 days to roll out because no one knows how the site works anymore pic.twitter.com/dIlXiOLHoI

— windows 98 Tech Support (@Win98Tech) April 3, 2023

A section of users was unhappy with the change and did not find the meme funny at all. One user even called it embarrassing and a possible reason to stop using Twitter forever.

i didnt really think anything could get me to permanently stop using the site cause it’s funny to watch everything get all fucked up but this is actually the thing that could push me over the edge, extremely painful vibes

— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) April 3, 2023

On the other hand, some users mockingly pointed out that Twitter has several grievances to fix but the platform is choosing to ignore them and pull off stunts like these.

“Look, it’s the exact same user experience it’s always been, except verified and paid accounts are identical, retweets don’t say retweets anymore, there’s a doge icon we can’t get rid of, and the site administers a small but painful shock at random intervals,” a comment read.

look, it’s the exact same user experience it’s always been, except verified and paid accounts are identical, retweets don’t say retweets anymore, there’s a doge icon we can’t get rid of, and the site administers a small but painful shock at random intervals

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) April 3, 2023

Meanwhile, the use of Dogecoin’s logo as the Twitter logo has caused the token’s price to surge. The price of Dogecoin spiked over 24 percent to around $0.096 as of Tuesday, to its highest point in over a month, as per CoinGecko.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Twitter’s iconic blue bird logo replaced with ‘Doge’ meme

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Twitter’s iconic blue bird logo has undergone a peculiar transformation into the popular “doge” meme. This unusual move was confirmed by Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who took over the reins of the social media behemoth in a $44 billion deal last year.

Musk shared a screenshot of a conversation, fulfilling a promise made earlier, with the exchange highlighting the suggestion to replace the bird logo with the Doge meme.

The Shiba Inu dog meme is also the logo of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, which Musk has been vocal about supporting. The change to the Doge logo is only visible on the web version of Twitter and not on the Twitter app.

Musk confirmed the change via a meme tweet, featuring a police officer checking a document with Doge claiming it’s an old photo. 

pic.twitter.com/wmN5WxUhfQ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2023

Also read: Elon Musk seeks to end $258 billion Dogecoin lawsuit

In a subsequent tweet, Musk shared a screenshot of a conversation he had with a Twitter user before he took over the company, where the user suggested replacing the blue bird logo with the Doge. Musk responded with “as promised,” indicating that he followed through on the suggestion.

As promised pic.twitter.com/Jc1TnAqxAV

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2023

Interestingly, the change to the Doge logo appears to have had a positive impact on the value of Dogecoin, as Bloomberg reported a nearly 30 percent increase in its value shortly after the logo change.

The dog behind the #Doge meme and #Dogecoin cryptocurrency is named Kabosu and she still lives with her owner Atsuko Sato @kabosumama in Sakura, Japan. Kabosu was a rescue dog and became a meme after Atsuko uploaded photos of Kabosu, including the one below, on her blog in 2010. pic.twitter.com/x5Kliw2DVf

— Dogecoin (@dogecoin) April 3, 2023

Since taking over Twitter last year, Musk has made several changes to the platform, including announcing the end of the old verified program and introducing a new paid version of the program. Musk has also been vocal about his desire to remove bots and trolls from the platform.

In a recent development, Twitter removed the verified checkmark from the New York Times’ Twitter page after the company declined to pay for the coveted blue checkmark.

Musk commented on the situation, stating that “they voluntarily did exactly what I wanted them to do,” in response to a user’s comment that random users are now verified on Twitter but the New York Times isn’t.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Elon Musk seeks to end $258 billion Dogecoin lawsuit

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Elon Musk asked a US judge on Friday to throw out a $258 billion racketeering lawsuit accusing him of running a pyramid scheme to support the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

In an evening filing in Manhattan federal court, lawyers for Musk and his electric car company Tesla Inc called the lawsuit by Dogecoin investors a “fanciful work of fiction” over Musk’s “innocuous and often silly tweets” about Dogecoin.

The lawyers said the investors never explained how Musk intended to defraud anyone or what risks he concealed, and that his statements such as ‘Dogecoin Rulz’ and “no highs, no lows, only Doge” were too vague to support a fraud claim.

“There is nothing unlawful about tweeting words of support for, or funny pictures about, a legitimate cryptocurrency that continues to hold a market cap of nearly $10 billion,” Musk’s lawyers said. “This court should put a stop to plaintiffs’ fantasy and dismiss the complaint.”

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In a footnote, the lawyers also rejected the investors’ claim that Dogecoin qualified as a security.

The investors’ lawyer, Evan Spencer, said in an email: “We are more confident than ever that our case will be successful.”

Investors accused Musk, the world’s second-richest person according to Forbes, of deliberately driving up Dogecoin’s price by more than 36,000% over two years and then letting it crash.

They said, “This generated billions of dollars of profit at other Dogecoin investors’ expense, even as Musk knew the currency lacked intrinsic value.”

Investors also pointed to Musk’s appearance on a “Weekend Update” segment of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” where, portraying a fictitious financial expert, he called Dogecoin “a hustle.”

The $258 billion damages figure is triple the estimated decline in Dogecoin’s market value in the 13 months before the lawsuit was filed.

Dogecoin Foundation, a non-profit, is also a defendant and seeking the lawsuit’s dismissal.

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Musk’s posts on Twitter, which he owns, have prompted multiple lawsuits.

He won a court victory on Feb. 3 when a San Francisco jury found him not liable for tweeting in August 2018 that he had arranged financing to take Tesla private.

The case is Johnson et al vs Musk et al, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-05037.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Vitalik Buterin repeatedly warns memecoin projects not to send him tokens, here’s why

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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For the average investor, randomly receiving massive amounts of any token, without any payment or effort, sounds like a dream. But not for Vitalik Buterin. Over the last few years, the Ethereum co-founder has received billions of dollars’ worth of dog-themed memecoins that he never sought or asked for. They were simply sent to his wallet address for no rhyme or reason. 

It soon became a trend, with new memecoin projects and DAOs sending massive amounts of their token supply to the Ethereum co-founder. Buterin tried to put a stop to the practice by publicly announcing that he did not want to receive tokens without his permission, but to no avail. In this article, we will explore why these projects continue to shower Buterin with free coins and why the co-founder has expressly asked project developers to discontinue the practice.

It all started with Shiba Inu

Shiba Inu is a household name for the crypto community these days. However, this was not always the case. The coin began as a spin-off of Dogecoin, which itself started as a joke. And when the project’s pseudonymous creator, Ryoshi, launched Shiba Inu, he donated half of the project’s 1 quadrillion token supply to Vitalik Buterin. The coins were sent to his cold address, which Buterin uses for long-term storage of crypto assets. 

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Upon receiving this massive stockpile of SHIB, the Ethereum co-founder said he had little interest in the project. However, Buterin stores the private key to his cold wallet on two separate continents, for security reasons. As such, he was not able to immediately offload the SHIB that he received. This made it look like he was holding onto the coins when in reality, he just wasn’t able to get rid of them. He explained that nascent projects often send him large amounts of their tokens to build investor interest around the project. Think of it as a kind of marketing stunt. Owing to his stature in the cryptoverse, users perceive the tokens in his wallet as good investments and buy into them. 

The strategy has worked for Shiba Inu. The token was relatively unheard of until half of its token supply landed up in Buterin’s wallet, who subsequently began burning and donating these tokens. Today, Shiba Inu is the 13th largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalisation. Seeing the success of this marketing strategy, several other crypto projects, memecoins in particular, continue to send Buterin-free tokens.

Why does Buterin advise projects against sending him tokens?

You’d imagine that anyone who receives free coins would have no qualms about it whatsoever. However, Buterin understands that having such a large amount of a project’s circulating supply puts a lot of power in his hands. “But for anyone making coins (or DAOs, or whatever else) in the future, PLEASE DO NOT GIVE ME COINS OR POWER IN YOUR PROJECT WITHOUT MY CONSENT! I don’t *want* to be a locus of power of that kind,” read one of Buterin’s tweets. 

Moreover, for obvious tax reasons, Buterin is forced to offload these tokens, either by burning or donating them. However, the movement or reduction of such a large amount of tokens will result in its price rising or falling considerably. Most recently, Buterin offloaded 500 trillion SHIKOKU tokens worth almost $700,000. He swapped the SHIK for around 380 ETH, which can be assumed will be donated. 

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However, the token sale has resulted in a massive drop for SHIK. Its price plummeted over 90 percent after Buterin offloaded the token. However, the developers behind SHIKOKU have taken the price drop to the chin. While admitting they were disheartened by token’s plummeting valuation, the developers believe that the price drop could be a blessing in disguise. “Now that he has sold, there are no whales left in the project. A truly decentralized community can now form in the wake of his actions,” the project said on Twitter. 

Moreover, this isn’t the first time something like this happened. Back in May 2021, SHIB dropped 38 percent after Buterin donated 50 trillion SHIB (which was worth $1.2 billion at the time) to the India Covid Relief Fund. 

Conclusion

Buterin has repeatedly asked memecoin projects not to send tokens to his wallet. Yet, several nascent projects continue to use his cold wallet as a marketing strategy, despite the risk of massive price drops. However, considering that Vitalik Buterin always puts these coins to good use, perhaps it’s not such a bad thing that developers divert large amounts of their projects’ circulating supply to the Ethereum co-founder. 

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow