Key Takeaways:
Shiba Inu (SHIB) saw its token burn rate climb 1,034% on May 15, as 27.1 million tokens were permanently removed from circulation, according to data from the Shibburn explorer website. The move, part of the token's deflationary mechanism, comes as the dog-themed cryptocurrency struggles to keep pace with rival Dogecoin.
"The increase followed a move from just over 2 million SHIB burned on May 14 to more than 25 million within one day," a report from the burn tracking platform noted. The majority of the burn came from a single wallet address that sent 25 million SHIB to a dead wallet in one transaction.
Data from the SHIB burn website shows that holders destroyed 27,137,162 SHIB in the 24-hour period. This pushed the total number of tokens burned in the last 30 days to over 198.1 million. At the time of the burn spike, SHIB was trading at $0.00000627, up 0.30% on the day.
The aggressive burn is designed to reduce the total supply of Shiba Inu, potentially making the remaining tokens more valuable. However, the supply reduction has yet to translate into a price outperformance against its primary competitor, Dogecoin (DOGE). Over the past month, SHIB has fallen 4.4% while DOGE has gained 3%, creating a performance gap of nearly 8 percentage points, according to market data.
The burn surge coincides with a decrease in SHIB reserves on centralized exchanges. On-chain data indicates that large holders, or "whales," have been moving tokens into private wallets, reducing the immediately available supply for trading.
Despite the supply-side actions, the token's price has remained relatively stagnant. The deflationary pressure from the burn mechanism is being offset by broader market dynamics and the token's relative underperformance against other meme-based assets like DOGE.
The SHIB development team also addressed community concerns, with the "Shibizens" X account clarifying that the anticipated LEASH v2 upgrade is still in development and not yet live. They warned users against potential scams, stating there are no presales or private airdrops linked to the upgrade.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
