Is Shiba Inu the Smartest Investment You Can Make Today?

Crypto markets have been rocky so far in 2025. Nearly every major name has lost value this year, Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) included. In a matter of months, this crypto token has lost roughly 40% of its value.

But it wasn't so long ago that Shiba Inu investors were tripling their money in a matter of weeks. Could Shiba Inu skyrocket in value again this year following the recent correction?

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Shiba Inu vs. Bitcoin vs. Ethereum

As a crypto asset, Shiba Inu differs in many ways from Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Ethereum theoretically has a quantifiable underlying value due to its being a usable network. Hundreds of decentralized applications are built on top of the Ethereum network, using it to process transactions and execute commands. The more Ethereum's network is used, the higher Ethereum's theoretical value becomes.

Bitcoin does have some of these ecosystem advantages. But because it wasn't designed to be a programmable blockchain, much of its worth is tied up in its use as a store of value. A store-of-value asset is exactly what it sounds like: an asset that retains a certain value simply by existing as itself. Gold is a prime example of this. Yes, gold and Bitcoin have other uses, but they don't necessarily require an underlying business or transactional use case to be worth something to investors.

Shiba Inu, on the other hand, is considered a meme coin. Its existence is largely meant to be a joke. The crypto token's mascot is the Shiba Inu -- a dog breed known for its meme usage well before the introduction of the token. In many ways, Shibu Inu is simply another iteration of Dogecoin, a similar meme coin featuring the Shiba Inu breed.

This is the most important thing to understand about Shiba Inu: It was never designed to have any real-world value. It's a speculative asset that rises and falls in value based on subjective shifts in sentiment. That's why you should expect only one thing from this crypto asset in 2025.

Expect this from Shiba Inu in 2025

What should you expect from Shiba Inu this year? Volatility. This is essentially what meme coins specialize in. Unlike with stocks, there is simply no way to build a model that predicts where this token's long-term value will go. That's why, Shiba Inu's price more than tripled twice in 2024, only to give up those gains as suddenly as they appeared. In 2021, this token rose in value by 1,000% in a matter of weeks twice. But as with previous spikes, much of the gains were eventually given up.

It's very difficult to forecast the sudden spikes and drops in Shiba Inu's valuation. That's why only a certain type of investor should own these tokens: those with extra cash they're willing to spend on what is essentially a lottery ticket.

There's nothing wrong with buying a lottery ticket from time to time, as long as you're fully funding your traditional investment accounts. But make no mistake: Shiba Inu is not a "smart" investment. It's a speculative bet. It can be fun and even profitable, but it's no investment.

Should you invest $1,000 in Shiba Inu right now?

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Ryan Vanzo has positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.