Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a decentralized, community-led cryptocurrency that was developed to answer a simple question: What would happen if a cryptocurrency project was 100 percent run by its community? Originating in late 2020, this Ethereum-based token has grown into a global phenomenon, accepted at numerous locations as a form of payment, either directly or via third-party intermediaries. The Shiba Inu ecosystem is not just about the SHIB token: it also includes other tokens like LEASH and BONE, includes a decentralized exchange called Shibaswap that allows users to provide liquidity, stake, and swap tokens to receive compensation, and includes ShibaSwap's Staking Pools. Like DOGE, SHIB is intentionally abundant — with an initial circulating supply of one quadrillion coins.

Shiba Inu operates on the Ethereum blockchain, utilizing the power of smart contracts to facilitate transactions and other operations. The Shiba Inu ecosystem includes ShibaSwap, a decentralized exchange where users can swap tokens, provide liquidity, and stake their holdings to receive compensation. The ecosystem has also introduced Shibarium, a Layer-2 solution aimed at enhancing its scalability and efficiency, which had processed over four million transactions as of November 2023.

Shiba Inu was created in August 2020 by an individual or group of individuals under the pseudonym "Ryoshi." The token quickly gained traction, and its popularity surged even further when a significant portion of the SHIB supply was burned, meaning destroyed, hence increasing its rarity. The token's Shiba Inu's history is marked by its community-driven approach, with its creator, Ryoshi, emphasizing the importance of a decentralized, community-led project.

You can buy, send, and receive SHIB from a few different crypto exchanges like Coinbase, for example. Because SHIB is issued as an Ethereum token, it's compatible with Ethereum wallets like Coinbase Wallet and available on decentralized exchanges (or DEXs) like UniSwap.

SHIB, unlike DOGE, is compatible with the Ethereum ecosystem — which has allowed the community to create crypto apps like ShibaSwap, a DEX running on the Ethereum blockchain that allows users to trade and stake tokens without an intermediary.