Shiba Inu Looks To Assert Dominance With Metaverse Plans, But Is It Enough For SHIB To Survive 2022?

After putting up a spirited price performance for much of last year, meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB) has been slipping down the ranks in the crypto market. While 2022 has been slow for the meme coin, several indicators point to SHIB gaining traction and surviving another year. 

SHIB bullish indicators in 2022

SHIB is currently trading at $0.000022, up 1.40% in the last 24 hours. Year-to-date, the ‘Dogecoin killer’ is down -32.3%. It is also down -74.2% from its all-time high price of $0.0000877 reached in October.

Paramount among factors keeping investor sentiment up is the ecosystem’s massive metaverse plans. The SHIBArmy has welcomed several developments around the SHIB virtual world already. Last month, an exclusive land sale was held using LEASH tokens, with a public sale expected soon.

“…our Metaverse serves as the anchor in our sustainable ecosystem, as we add even more utility, projects, and benefits for our beloved ShibArmy, the best crypto community out there,” SHIB developers noted in an update at the time.

In a recent update, the developers of the meme coin implored community members to keep their LEASH tokens ready for more exclusive perks in the Shiba Inu ecosystem.

Another bullish factor is the heightened whale accumulation. A whale accumulation trend that began last year has continued to persist. Per data from WhaleStats, having briefly fallen below LINK as the most traded among the top 1000 Ethereum wallets, the meme coin was back at the top of the chart.

WhaleStats also reports a 178.87% increase in the amount of SHIB held by the top 100 Ether whales despite the price drop. 

Similarly, the volume traded and active addresses have grown by 880% and 18.18% respectively over the last 24 hours. The token has also seen a 115.98% increase in token burn rate in the last 24hrs with 13,287,945 $SHIB extinguished from its circulating supply. 

Where will SHIB land this year?

While SHIB does not seem to be in heavy contention with Dogecoin like it used to, predictions for the price of SHIB are still bullish. Market analysis tool CoinPriceForecast, predicts the price of SHIB to increase around 157% to $0.000077 by early 2023.

Meanwhile, Market Realist, a financial media outlet expects the meme coin to have added 350% in value by the year 2026.