Cryptocurrency whales have accumulated billions of Shiba Inu ($SHIB) tokens after the meme-inspired cryptocurrency’s adoption grew thanks to a listing on cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, its planned entrance in the world of gaming, and Nasdaq-listed retailer Newegg adding SHIB as a payment method.
As first reported by DailyHodl, data from tracking platform WhaleStats shows that the top 100 Ethereum wallets holding the meme-inspired cryptocurrency saw their balance in it rise by over 40% in 24 hours to over 2.5 billion tokens.
Whales started accumulating more SHIB after Kraken finally announced it was listing the cryptocurrency after teasing its community earlier this month, effectively boosting its liquidity. Similarly, Newegg adding SHIB as a payment method gives holders more options of what to do with the token.
A more significant catalyst, however, may have been Shiba Inu’s team bringing in gaming industry veteran William Volk to help guide the organization’s move into the gaming industry. The project’s pseudonymous lead, Shytoshi Kusama, wrote in a Medium post the team has a new games division – Shiba Inu Games – that hired Volk to lead the design and implementation of a new game being developed by a “AAA Game Studio.”
Volk — former VP of Technology at Activision — who indicates on his LinkedIn page that he has been working on a freelance basis for Shiba Inu Games since the start of the month, said he is “honored to be working with an amazing team on what will become one of the most significant games of all time.”
As CryptoGlobe reported, some Ethereum whales have been accumulating SHIB ever since the cryptocurrency’s price started plunging earlier this year. A mysterious ETH whale known as “Gimli” has kept on accumulating the meme-inspired cryptocurrency by adding $1.7 million more to his portfolio earlier this month.
Digital asset-focused research firm Delphi Digital has revealed that historically dog coins, meaning cryptocurrencies inspired by the popular Shiba Inu meme, have historically been “a pretty good indication of an overheated market.”
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