By Leslie Quander Wooldridge
Is it really a meme coin if you’re making money?
That’s the question of the times, as cryptocurrency SHIBA INU has hit major highs and even broke into the top 10 list of cryptocurrencies by market cap—a major move—flipping Dogecoin at one point before falling by press time.
And the communities of these coins are contributing to the volume, both in search and in trading.
In fact, this cycle, fun coins have gained attention as well as plain gains. And with SHIB now available for trading on Coinbase and more—with the exchange reporting in early November that New York residents can even participate—these events can encourage new people to enter the space.
So where has Bitcoin landed in all of this, when it comes to popularity? Well, the OG of crypto by market cap actually hasn’t been number one when it comes to search. Details from a study by software firm Bacancy Technology, shared with Gokhshtein Media in October 2021, shed some light.
- For starters, by search volume, Dogecoin—represented by that cuddly character and created as a joke—was number one, with more than 7 million average monthly Google searches per month, according to Bacancy Technology
- The firm noted Bitcoin as number two by search volume, with about 4.7 million monthly searches.
- Coming in third was Ethereum with 1.8 million searches.
- And fourth was SHIBA INU—that fun token that offers a “woof paper” as its whitepaper— with 870,000 searches.
But hold on one more minute and take in the power of the internet. As SHIB, a coin that’s barely more than a year old, made at least one wallet holder super wealthy this cycle, and others did well too (in their portfolios at least), online interest increased.
For instance, #SHIBAARMY has its moment of trending on Twitter. And on October 28, 2021, SHIB was the number one most viewed cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap, the site reported. (NOTE: This ranking has since fallen; click on this link for the latest rankings and numbers.)
Though some in the space have had unfavorable opinions about meme coins, levity is currently popular. So I checked in via Twitter to see if people wanted to share thoughts on the recent activity.
“I am still super bullish on the project and I'm sure I won't be the only one wishing they would have bought more,” responded a Twitter user by the handle of @yeggles, noting that, at the same time, “we need to have a realistic price target.” But as people continued to talk and search, the user continued: “I'm just happy to see everyday people making extra money!”
And here’s one more reply from a Twitter user who goes by the name TOP DOGE (@topdoge007):
“I think the success of both DOGE and SHIB is great for adoption and will continue to help bring more attention to the space! They both offer an opportunity to make some extra money and can help others learn about cryptocurrency. I think most importantly is the $DOGE and $SHIB communities are a great group of people to learn from and they help add some laughter and fun to the financial world!”
There we are back to fun. Hats off to learning and any gains to those who’ve made them. As the days continue, we’ll see how these tokens do, as with the rest of the market this quarter.
So could the search volume continue? Sure, as long as there is interest. While some analysts have cautioned about investing a lot in meme coins—declines can and do happen—fun coins are bringing just that.
