What is Shiba Inu?
Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a decentralized memecoin created in August 2020 by an anonymous founder known as Ryoshi. It launched as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum with an initial supply of one quadrillion, half of which was sent to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin - who later burned most of the received tokens and donated the rest to charity.
Shiba Inu grew from a joke token into a sizeable ecosystem: ShibaSwap (a DEX), LEASH and BONE (sister tokens with more specific utility), and Shibarium - a Layer-2 rollup on Ethereum designed as a cheaper home for the SHIB community's activity.
How does Shiba Inu work?
SHIB itself is a simple ERC-20 token - no built-in deflation, no fee on transfers. Supply reduction happens through explicit burns, often funded by a portion of Shibarium transaction fees or community-run burn portals. The ecosystem's economic design depends on its two companion tokens: LEASH (tightly capped supply, used for exclusive access) and BONE (governance and gas for Shibarium).
Shibarium uses a Proof-of-Stake consensus on Polygon Edge and posts state proofs back to Ethereum. This keeps transaction fees low for everyday SHIB activity while inheriting Ethereum's security for settlement.