Shiba Inu (SHIB) is the third most used token on the Ethereum Network, data from Etherscan on December 20 shows.
In particular, SHIB has outperformed several other tokens and is only third to the major stablecoins, Tether (USDT) and U.S Dollar Coin (USDC), by number of users over the last seven days.
The token has 78,089 unique users, following USDT and USDC with 485,935 and 232,311 respectively. This high usage is in spite of SHIB’s unimpressive market performance since October.
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New use cases attracting users despite poor price performance
It’s worth mentioning SHIB was created as a meme token with nothing more to it, similar to its competitor Dogecoin (DOGE). Such meme tokens are often referred to as “joke” tokens, but have managed to bring cosmic returns to investors even though there were no real use cases attached to them initially.
Recently though, the Shiba Inu team has been exploring ways to integrate use cases to make the token worth more than just a meme token, which may be why more people are using it.
Finbold reported three weeks ago that the project has teamed up with game creator and former Vice President of Technology at Activision William David Volk to explore the integration of play-to-earn non-fungible token (NFT) games.
Elsewhere, in a more recent development, one of the token developers announced that the project will be launching a Layer 2 scaling solution soon. The Layer 2 solution known as Shibarium was proposed by SHIB creator Ryoshi. The solution will help scale SHIB transactions by bypassing Ethereum’s exorbitant transaction fees in order for the dream of integrating NFT and gaming to be realized.
Meme cryptocurrencies finding use cases
SHIB has been referred to as the “Dogecoin killer” and may stand a chance with the new developments from its team. Interestingly though, DOGE is not left behind in exploring use cases to keep it relevant.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced just days ago that the electric car company will be accepting DOGE as payment for some of its merchandise. This was a milestone for the largest meme coin by market capitalization.
Around the same time, a DOGE developer, inevitable360 minted the first NFT on the Dogecoin blockchain, yet opening the door to another possible use case for DOGE.
As these meme cryptocurrencies explore new use cases that are relevant in today’s world, their status could change from just crypto representing cute dogs assets with some real value in the near future.