Shiba Inu (SHIB) has outpaced Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) in the percentage of long-term holders, signaling growing investor confidence in the memecoin.
According to blockchain analytics firm IntoTheBlock, as of March 21, 75.8% of SHIB addresses have held their tokens for over 155 days, surpassing Ethereum’s 74.2% and Bitcoin’s 73.3%. This shift suggests that more investors now view SHIB as a long-term asset rather than a short-term speculative play.
A closer look at the data reveals a strong trend toward long-term investment in SHIB. Only 2% of holders have owned SHIB for less than a month, while 22% have held it for 1 to 12 months, and 76% for over a year.
Among newer cryptocurrencies, SHIB now boasts the longest average holding period at 2.6 years, surpassing Ethereum’s 2.4 years, though Bitcoin still leads at 4.4 years. That said, only Litecoin (LTC) and Chainlink (LINK) have a higher percentage of long-term holders, at 77.7% and 77.5%, respectively.
One key driver of SHIB’s long-term appeal is Shibarium, the project’s Layer 2 scaling solution. Adoption of Shibarium has surged, with daily sign-ups skyrocketing over 4,000%, according to data from Shibarium scan.
Transaction volumes have also increased significantly, jumping 61% in a month from 2.38 million to 3.82 million. Meanwhile, smart contract deployments have soared 800%, with new contracts rising from 12 to 109 per day. This rapid growth underscores the rising developer interest in building decentralized applications (dApps) on Shibarium, further strengthening the Shiba Inu ecosystem.
Beyond network growth, SHIB’s increasing long-term holder base aligns with improving crypto regulations, particularly in the U.S. Recent developments, such as the the establishment of a U.S. crypto research body have also boosted investor confidence, with the SHIB community hopeful SHIB will be added at some point. Speculation is also mounting around a potential Shiba Inu ETF, with growing community advocacy for its approval.
Despite this optimism, SHIB’s price has faced bearish pressure, dropping 6.55% in the past 24 hours to $0.00001424 at press time. However, analysts like Master Ananda believe SHIB is approaching a key support level and could rebound soon.
“The market bottom was hit in June 2023, and since then, we’ve seen higher highs and higher lows,” Ananda noted on Tradingview. “The 2024 corrective phase is coming to an end, and SHIB is poised for a bullish breakout.”
According to Ananda, if history repeats itself, SHIB could rally 600% or more from its current levels, mirroring the 1,800% surge that followed its June 2023 bottom.
