Shiba Inu (SHIB) became one of the most talked-about cryptocurrencies of the 2021 bull market. Early investors who bought shortly after its August 2020 launch and held through the rally saw astonishing returns, with some turning relatively small investments into life-changing sums. Those stories helped brand SHIB as a “millionaire-maker.”
However, the reality today looks very different. Since its all-time high in October 2021, SHIB has fallen by more than 91%, leaving many long-term holders deep in the red. While the token still has a large and passionate community, the factors that fueled its historic rise are much harder to recreate.
Why a 2021-Style SHIB Rally Is Unlikely
One of the biggest catalysts behind SHIB’s 2021 surge was a highly unusual event involving Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. He was sent half of SHIB’s original supply and later burned 90% of those tokens. That massive, unexpected reduction in supply helped drive excitement and price momentum. This kind of one-time event is extremely unlikely to happen again. Although the Shiba Inu team has discussed future burn mechanisms, there are few concrete details and no confirmed launch timeline.
Another challenge is SHIB’s limited real-world utility. Despite efforts to expand beyond its memecoin roots, much of SHIB’s demand has historically come from online hype rather than everyday use. The launch of Shibarium, the project’s layer-2 network, was meant to change that narrative, but the ecosystem is still relatively small, with only a limited number of active applications. Without broader adoption, sustained demand is harder to generate.
Can SHIB Still Go Up From Here?
SHIB’s enormous circulating supply also makes dramatic gains more difficult. With roughly 589 trillion tokens in circulation, the math simply isn’t as favorable as it was in the early days. Turning a small investment into a massive return would now require significantly larger capital inflows and much higher overall market demand.
That said, upside is not impossible. If the broader crypto market enters another strong bull cycle and interest in memecoins returns, SHIB could still see notable price increases. However, investors expecting a repeat of the explosive 2021 run should keep their expectations realistic. The conditions that created that rally were rare, and many of them cannot be easily repeated today.
In short, Shiba Inu remains a high-risk, sentiment-driven asset. While future gains are possible, the era of effortless “rags-to-riches” SHIB stories is far less likely than it was during the last bull market.
