Shiba Inu, the second-largest memecoin by market cap, is back in the spotlight. Not because of its impressive 19.7% gain over the last two weeks, but due to one shocking revelation.
According to new data from a well-known blockchain analytics platform, a single wallet now holds over 410 trillion SHIB tokens, representing 41% of the total supply. At current prices, that’s worth more than $5.4 billion.
And no, the identity of the wallet holder remains unknown.
SHIB is currently priced at $0.00001368 and boasts a market cap of over $8 billion. While the memecoin has outperformed Dogecoin in recent days — gaining 5.3% in the last 24 hours compared to DOGE’s 3.9% — the community is increasingly uneasy.
Why? Because no cryptocurrency project claiming to be decentralized wants a single entity holding this much of its supply.
So far, the whale remains anonymous. But three theories are circulating:
Ryoshi launched SHIB in August 2020 and disappeared in May 2022, deleting all his posts. He had famously claimed he held no SHIB tokens himself, in a bid to keep the project truly decentralized.
Still, if the wallet belongs to Ryoshi or an entity with deep insider access, it raises questions about whether decentralization was ever real.
A wallet holding 41% of any token supply is a red flag. If this whale decides to move, sell, or leverage these tokens in any way, it could send shockwaves through the SHIB market.
Such a move could:
At the time of writing, Shiba Inu is the 23rd largest cryptocurrency by market cap, according to CoinGecko.
Despite the concerns, SHIB’s fundamentals have been improving. The project continues to build out its ecosystem:
These developments could eventually give SHIB utility beyond the memecoin label — something DOGE has struggled to achieve.
It’s been a mixed year so far.
That bounce in Q3 has brought some relief, but if the whale wallet causes market disruption, SHIB’s recovery could be short-lived.
The fact that a single wallet holds 41% of Shiba Inu’s supply is undeniably risky, regardless of who’s behind it. Until the holder is confirmed or the tokens are distributed, SHIB holders have reason to stay cautious, even as price momentum builds.
The largest holder of SHIB owns over 410 trillion tokens, valued at more than $5.4 billion. While the identity is unknown, experts suggest it could be an early investor, a centralized exchange wallet, or even SHIB’s founder Ryoshi.
It’s possible. Ryoshi, the pseudonymous creator of SHIB, disappeared in 2022 after deleting all his online activity. While he claimed to own no tokens, the wallet’s size and early accumulation pattern have led to speculation.
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