Shiba Inu soars over 25% Friday as dogecoin copycat makes Coinbase debut

Coinbase COIN, -1.06% on Thursday officially announced that Shiba was being traded on the U.S.’s largest exchange platform, which is delivering a fresh jolt to the digital asset that is considered a meme of a meme coin.

The China-based cryptocurrency, Shiba Inu was modeled as a “fun” crypto, riffing of the success earlier this year of dogecoin DOGEUSD, +3.43%, which has been drawing increasing attention among crypto enthusiasts looking for the next buzzy asset.

Dogecoin, for its part, has been garnering more traction as a medium of exchange among its staunchest backers, but the virtual coin had mostly been cast as a digital asset that offers little utility and is primarily supported by the interest from those on social-media channels like Reddit and Discord.

Shiba saw its value surge, along with dogecoin, back in the spring as investors sought new meme prospects, including Kisha Inu, which trades under the ticker KISHU and is marketed as “a community-focused, decentralized cryptocurrency with instant rewards for holders.

SHIB, which features the image of a Shiba Inu hunting dog, is now the 48th largest crypto in the world. Dogecoin stands as the ninth largest, according to CoinMarketCap.com, as of Friday morning.

Coinbase has been attempting to increase activity and trading revenues on its platform and bringing onboard assets like Shiba Inu may be one way at helping to drive that mission. The exchange platform only recently added meme asset dogecoin to its trading roster, even as a number of rival exchanges were offering the popular crypto.

The majority of Coinbase’s revenues come from bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.86% and Ether ETHUSD, -1.29% on the Ethereum blockchain, the No. 1 and No. 2 crypto by market value. Trading platforms like Robinhood Markets Inc. HOOD, +0.69%, which recently went public, have hitched their future to crypto and to the demand for assets like dogecoin.