Shiba Inu is still a well-known name in the crypto world, even though it has lost a lot of money.

Even if its price has dropped a lot, Shiba Inu is still a hot topic in the crypto world. Reports say that the network had a market valuation of $5 billion on December 6. It still gets attention because people know the name. However, that visibility doesn't answer the argument over whether the token should be in a long-term portfolio.

Reports say that Shiba Inu has made huge moves during the past few years. About five years ago, it was worth about $0.0000000001684. As of this writing, it is worth about $0.000008439.

The highest price ever for SHIB was $0.00008845, which indicates that the token is now trading almost 85% below that top. Reports say that SHIB has dropped roughly 55% this year, and some numbers show that it has dropped about 60% in the last 12 months. Many investors are now wondering if the story that once boosted SHIB has lost its power after those dips.

The chain is sending out mixed messages. According to CryptoQuant, memecoin dominance is at its lowest level since early 2024. This means that interest in comparable currencies has dropped.

At the same time, the number of wallets that carry SHIB went up from approximately 1.45 million at the start of the year to roughly 1.52 million more recently. Along with the drop in price, there was a rise in the number of holders. It shows dispersal rather than total abandonment; minor gains in holdings don't usually mean more trading activity, but they can show that retail interest is steady.

In the meantime, crypto expert Neil Patel has given reasons why he wouldn't consider Shiba Inu a good investment. He says that the memecoin doesn't fix a big, obvious problem and that there isn't as much developer engagement on SHIB as there is on many other networks.

The idea is that a lot of SHIB's value has come from hype cycles and not from people using it in the actual world. These ideas were made clear, and they have been reiterated in several articles that warn against tokens that are driven by hype.

What Investors Should Know and What They Should Be Careful Of

Many papers have said that investors who wish to get into crypto should look to big networks like Bitcoin for arguments based on scarcity. At the same time, SHIB's supporting initiatives, such a layer-two chain, a decentralized exchange, and a metaverse idea, are real but don't seem to be seeing a lot of use yet.