Shiba Inu Kicks Off 2023 With 50% Rally, Becomes Ethereum Whale Favorite

Shiba Inu has been one of the best performers out of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. The meme coin started 2023 with a bang, rallying with the entire crypto market but also clocking in some independent gains due to anticipation around Shibarium and general bullishness in the market. Now, the digital asset has crawled back into favor with large Ethereum whales as they renew their interest.

Shiba Inu Is The Biggest Token Holding By Dollar Value

Over the last year, Shiba Inu had fallen out of favor with the large Ethereum whales who reduced their holdings as the price of the coin plummeted. These large Ethereum whales went from holding over $1 billion worth of the meme coin at one point in 2021 to holding less than $300 million at the worst point in 2022.

This has quickly changed especially with the price recovery of SHIB. Ethereum whales have once again pitched their tents with the meme coin, accumulating trillions of tokens in the last couple of months. This has brought Shiba Inu back to its glory days of being the largest token holding by dollar value for the top 100 ETH whales, according to data from WhaleStats.

Currently, they hold over $608 million worth of SHIB, which makes up 15.99% of their total token holdings excluding ETH. Activity in the meme coin has also soared and SHIB also registers as the most traded token by these whales in the last 24 hours.

SHIB becomes largest holding among top 100 ETH whales | Source: WhaleStats

The SHIB smart contract is the fourth most used smart contract by the whales, coming behind ETH, USDC, and USDT, with a 186% increase in the smart contract usage by the top 100 ETH whales.

SHIB Grows 50%, Is There More Runway?

Shiba Inu’s price is already up more than 50% in the last three weeks, but there could still be more runway for the digital asset. One factor that could contribute greatly to such an increase is the launch of Shibarium, a Layer 2 blockchain, which is currently the most anticipated release in the community.

With the launch of Shibarium, the possibility of a rally in the price of SHIB becomes more likely. Although BONE, which will be the ecosystem token stands to gain more, this movement will likely rub off on Shiba Inu as the launch of its own Layer 2 blockchain will trigger more adoption.

SHIB price rises over 50% in first three weeks of 2023 | Source: SHIBUSD on TradingView.com

There is currently no set date for the launch of Shibarium, but if it were to happen while the market is still seeing high momentum, then it will accelerate the growth of the coin. It puts SHIB’s price at a possible $0.00002 once the launch is complete.

SHIB is currently trading at $0.00001209 at the time of this writing. Its price is up 0.33% in the last 24 hours and 14.12% in the last seven days.