Cryptocurrency Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin reportedly made a move over the weekend that drove up the cost of SHIB coin, and may have influenced the SHIB coin market for the future, according to Yahoo! Finance.
What is SHIB coin?
Buterin decided to “burn” 90% of his SHIB coin tokens over the weekend. The process of burning “refers to the act of sending a token to an unusable account and removing it from circulation, which diminishes supply and increases its scarcity,” according to Benzinga.
- The move came after Buterin donated $1 billion to a COVID-19 relief fund in India using Shiba Inu coin, according to Fortune.
In total, Buterin burned about 410.24 trillion SHIB tokens over the weekend, which would be valued at $6.74 billion, per Benzinga. He said it was done to make sure he didn’t control the market of SHIB coins and that the market is better left in the hands of coin creators and investors.
- “I don’t want to be a locus of power of that kind,” he said, according to Yahoo! Finance.
What does this mean for SHIB coin?
According to FX Street, which reports on cryptocurrencies, the decision received heavy positive feedback from social media.
- “Many speculators suggested that Buterin’s transaction could be the fuel that could send Shiba Inu to the moon,” FX Street reports.
- The decision to burn so many SHIB coins makes each one available rarer, which jacks up the price.
- “However, considering that meme-based coins are based almost exclusively on speculation, a particular action does not always mean that its value will skyrocket,” according to FX Street.