2022 has witnessed several Ethereum whales buying Shiba Inu, but the question remains if it will save Ethereum

Investors who own large quantities of a cryptocurrency are known as crypto whales. It's not surprising that there are plenty of Ethereum (ETH -2.94%) whales since Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency based on market cap. What might be surprising, though, is that Ethereum whales are buying another cryptocurrency. Several of the top 1,000 holders of Ethereum have been scooping up Shiba Inu (SHIB -1.79%) around the beginning of this year, according to the whale-tracking website WhaleStats.

While predicting the reasons behind such activities, experts suggested that deep-pocketed investors wouldn't be interested in Shiba Inu, though, if they didn't think the cryptocurrency is likely to rise significantly in the future. One likely reason for optimism on that front is the expectation that Shiba Inu could be more widely adopted going forward. Ethereum whales could also be bullish about Shiba Inu's metaverse opportunity. So far, Shiba Inu has missed out on the recent frenzied investing in gaming coins. Although the meme coin might be late to the party, gaming appears destined to be a critical part of its future. Shiba Inu Games signed up longtime gaming developer William Volk to lead the charge in the development of a multi-player game. It also brought an AAA studio (i.e., one that has developed multimillion-dollar games) on board for the effort that is Playside Studios. Developers recently provided a sneak peek at the Shiba Inu metaverse that's being developed. It's being referred to as the "Shiberse" but in the past has also been called the "Oshiverse."

A Change of Scene

However, in the last few days, Ethereum whales have shed some of their Shiba Inu holdings. The 100 largest Ethereum whales now hold $982,324,880 after shedding $17.6 million in SHIB tokens, which the sentiments shifted from bullish to bearish. Proponents note that one of the critical reasons for a drop in Shiba Inu holdings among Ethereum whales is the recent price pullback. The process can have a negative feedback effect with a decrease in whale holdings, fueling a bearish sentiment among Shiba Inu holders, and then more liquidations. Further selling around the current price levels can put Shiba Inu in dangerous positions as the meme coin has been forming a descending triangle on its daily chart. A sustaining daily candlestick close below $0.000021, and more importantly below $0.000018, could trigger a 48.59% correction. Such a significant decline can send SHIB to $0.000011 or even $0.000010. However, it is worth noting that the pessimistic outlook would be invalidated if Shiba Inu's price can slice through the $0.000023 resistance level. Moving past such a critical supply zone can encourage market participants to re-enter the market and help SHIB recover and potentially hit $0.00004.

A Brief about the Memecoin

According to the SHIBA INU website, SHIB is the "DOGECOIN KILLER" and is listed on their own ShibaSwap, a DEX. Shiba Inu coin was created anonymously in August 2020 under the pseudonym "Ryoshi." Ryoshi says himself that he is a nobody and not important and that the efforts to unmask his identity, even if successful, would be underwhelming. This meme coin quickly gained speed and value as a community of investors was drawn in by the cute charm of the coin paired with headlines and tweets from personalities like Elon Musk and Vitalik Buterin. Vitalik Buterin was long believed to be the originator of Shiba Inu but denied such rumors on the Lex Fridman podcast on June 5, 2021. Shiba Inu aims to be the Ethereum-based counterpart to Dogecoin's Crypt-based mining algorithm. Shiba Inu and the SHIB token are part of a swarm of dog-themed cryptocurrencies, including Baby Dogecoin (BabyDoge), Dogecoin (DOGE), etc. These lesser-valued tokens have attracted investors who missed the Dogecoin pump from 0.0002 to nearly 0.75 USD.