Shiba Inu price faces 10% weekly drop, stirring investor caution amid cryptocurrency market uncertainty  

Crypto news: Shiba Inu (SHIB), the self-proclaimed Dogecoin (DOGE) killer, has seen its price slide over 10% in the past week, as investors remain cautious about the meme coin's prospects. Shiba Inu is currently trading at US$0.000008907, down from US$0.0000096 a week ago.

Shiba Inu's price decline comes amid a bearish sentiment in the cryptocurrency market, as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) also face downward pressure from regulatory uncertainty and profit-taking. BTC dropped below US$40,000 for the first time since December 2023.

However, SHIB's popularity has not translated into a sustained price rally, as the token has been stuck in a downtrend since its all-time high of US$0.0000388 in May 2021, when it was listed on major exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, and Huobi. SHIB has lost over 77% of its value since then, despite several attempts to break out of the bearish zone.

One of the reasons for SHIB's lackluster performance is the lack of innovation and development in its ecosystem, compared to other meme coins such as DOGE and Floki Inu (FLOKI). While DOGE has benefited from the endorsement and support of celebrities such as Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, and FLOKI has launched several products and partnerships to attract users and investors, SHIB has not delivered much in terms of new features or updates.

SHIB's main project, ShibaSwap, a decentralized exchange that allows users to swap, stake, and farm SHIB and other tokens, has been criticized for its security issues, low liquidity, and high fees. ShibaSwap's total value locked (TVL), a measure of the amount of assets deposited on the platform, has dropped from over US$1.5 billion in July 2021 to less than US$22.4 million in January 2024, according to DeFi Llama.

Another factor that has hampered SHIB's growth is the competition from other meme coins that have emerged in the wake of its success. FLOKI, which was launched in September 2021 as a tribute to Musk's dog of the same name, has gained over 2,000% in the past four months, reaching a market cap of over US$1 billion. FLOKI has also partnered with several celebrities, influencers, and organizations, such as rapper Soulja Boy, YouTuber Logan Paul, and the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, to promote its brand and vision. 

SHIB's prospects depend largely on its ability to innovate and differentiate itself from the crowded meme coin space, as well as to leverage its loyal community and network effects. SHIB's developers have announced several upcoming projects, such as Shibarium, a layer 2 blockchain upgrade that promises to improve scalability, reduce fees, and attract more developers and users.