Cypher Capital Chairman Bill Qian Discusses Shiba Inu Funding Round – SHIB Price Trails Other Memecoins

Key Takeaways

• Shiba Inu completed a successful funding round in April, which was led by Cypher Capital.
• New developments are lined up for the rest of the year, headlined by TREAT and a new Layer-3.
• The SHIB price has trailed PEPE, FLOKI and BONK in 2024, but performed better than Dogecoin and WIF.

The Shiba Inu price has increased over 150% in 2024. While the performance is impressive, it still trails several other memecoins. However, despite being a memecoin, Shiba Inu has attracted numerous investors, as evidenced by a successful funding round in April.

In an exclusive interview with CCN, Bill Qian, Chairman at Cypher Capital outlined what sets Shiba Inu apart from other memecoins, the role of TREAT in the ecosystem and why SHIB is well positioned for continued growth.

Cypher Capital Outlines Reasons for Shiba Inu Funding Round

On April 22, the Shiba Inu team announced a $12 million fundraiser through selling their token TREAT. Bill Qian is Chairman at Cypher Capital , one of the companies that took part in the investment round.

According to Qian, Shiba Inu presents an attractive investment despite being a memecoin:

Shiba Inu plans to build a Layer 3 and establish a network state—a concept that hasn’t been fully explored in the crypto world. This captured our attention. Further, the new FHE layer 3 is being built in partnership with Zama. Shiba is still one of the most decentralized projects out there, with over 1 million on-chain holders. The active community surrounding Shiba not only drives awareness and adoption but also contributes to the project’s ongoing development and evolution.

Qian explained that the TREAT token will be used for enabling Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) features across the Shiba Inu ecosystem and utilized for gas fees to execute transactions on the chain.

He believes that all tokens in the ecosystem will benefit from TREAT. Moreover, Qian predicts the user activity in Shibarium, Shiba Inu’s decentralized exchange will continue to grow with the launch of the new version.

Next, for the investment strategy of Cypher Capital, Qian noted:

Our core focus is investing in blockchain infrastructure; and while evaluating projects we look for project viability; use case; tech advancement, investment thesis fit, team’s capability and track record; growth potential; go to market and user acquisition strategy. We are long term investors and frequently make bets on projects that challenge the status quo.

He highlighted that Shiba Inu  has the upper hand over new projects because it overcomes the “cold start” problem. This problem plagues new initiatives with insufficient user and developer engagement, making visibility a major hurdle.

Thanks to SHIB’s well-established ecosystem, TREAT is positioned to launch with a built-in advantage, benefiting from an existing, vibrant community.

SHIB Price Risks Breakdown

The daily time frame SHIB price chart shows an ongoing increase since April 13. On May 15, the increase caused a breakout from a descending resistance trend line and reclaim of the $0.000024 horizontal resistance area.

However, the upward movement was not sustained. A bearish reversal started on May 29, which also confirmed the SHIB price trades inside an ascending parallel channel. Since these channels usually contain corrective movements, a breakdown from it is the most likely future outlook.

The SHIB price bounced at the channel’s support trend line and the $0.000024 area on June 4 (green icon).

The MACD and RSI are bearish. Both indicators are trending downward, the MACD has nearly fallen into negative territory and the RSI has already fallen below 50 (red circle). If a breakdown happens, SHIB can decrease to $0.000015.

Shiba Inu Still Trails Other Memecoins

Despite its successful funding round and attractiveness to investors, the Shiba Inu price has trailed other memecoins in 2024. Since the start of the year, SHIB has increased by 150% (black). While this is a better performance relative to Dogecoin (orange) at 94% and WIF (blue) at 78%, it trails other large capitalization memecoins.

More specifically, PEPE leads the pack at 1,100%, followed by FLOKI at 760% (white). BONK is third at 175%, with a rate of increase similar to that of SHIB.

From this performance, the most visible conclusion is that newer memecoins in the Ethereum blockchain have taken control. Comparatively, older and more established memecoins such as SHIB and DOGE are increasing at a much more gradual pace. On the other hand, Solana memecoins performed admirably in the end of 2023 but have cooled off significantly since.

Shiba Inu Potential Not Reflected in Performance

Despite its 150% increase, the SHIB performance in 2024 is disappointing relative to other memecoins. Shiba Inu completed a funding round in April, and investors see it as an attractive option because of its plans to build a Layer-3 and high rate of decentralization.

While the short-term price action is not promising, the long-term SHIB outlook could be more positive because of its new developments.

About the Author

Valdrin Tahiri

Valdrin discovered cryptocurrencies while getting his MSc in Financial Markets from the Barcelona School of Economics in 2017. He has been an avid investor and trader since. Valdrin has written for several cryptocurrency media companies such as BeInCrypto and CoinGape.

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