Only eight ‘whale‘ wallets possess over 72% of Shiba Inu coin

<p>Shiba Inu, named after the same breed of dog that inspired the market's earlier odd meme-coin favourite Dogecoin, is the unlikely hero of the cryptocurrency world these days.</p> <p>The token's overall market value skyrocketed to more than $51 billion last week, surpassing Dogecoin and placing it among the top ten cryptocurrencies in existence—despite the fact that its origins as a meme provide it with little fundamental economic reason to flourish.</p> <p>As the hysteria subsided in recent days, reducing the coin's market value by 31% to around $35 billion, the crypto world's focus has shifted to a handful large "whale" wallets that control the majority of Shiba tokens in circulation. And there's some unsettling news for minnows who purchased Shiba Inu and are sitting on lifetime paper gains: one of the whales has started shifting the coins between wallets, sparking concerns the holder is likely to sell.</p> <p>The dog-coin drama is the latest example of how, despite an abundance of transparency in a market where every transaction is publicly recorded on a blockchain, the anonymity of the players involved — including, in this case, even the coin's creators — results in a house of mirrors effect, where no one knows who is doing what.</p> <p>"Legitimate crypto is completely transparent about transactions, code, and other aspects—but is frequently opaque about tying transactions to specific individuals," said Aaron Brown, a crypto investor and Bloomberg Opinion contributor. "This is the polar opposite of the financial system, which is impenetrable to all but personal identification."</p> <p>Shiba Inu is very concentrated in terms of ownership. While it is held by 872,382 wallets in total, the top ten holders possess about 72% of the coin, according to tracker CoinMarketCap.com. The largest wallet controls a massive 41% of the market, which was theoretically worth about $21 billion at its peak. No. 2 currently owns slightly more than 7%, or around $2.5 billion at current pricing.</p> <p>The token, denoted b