South Africa’s cryptocurrency community has turned its gaze to the Shiba Inu coin, which has witnessed an impressive 20% hike in its value, stamping its mark as one of the standout performers over the past weekend.

Starting from a modest $0.00000827 (ZAR 0.00015382) on the 4th of August, the Shiba Inu (SHIB) coin rocketed to $0.00001028 (ZAR 0.00019121) by the early hours of August 6. CoinGecko’s latest data reveals that the coin marked an upward trajectory of 12.24% within the last week alone. This surge in SHIB’s value has made it a hot commodity on major crypto trading platforms like Binance, leaving heavyweights like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, and even its sibling Dogecoin (DOGE) trailing in its wake. While Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP recorded declines of 0.6%, 0.4%, and 6.9% respectively, Dogecoin managed to clinch a 1% gain.

Interestingly, SHIB’s commendable market performance comes amidst a backdrop of caution and skepticism in the wider tech and crypto realms, especially after the U.S. sovereign rating took a hit with a downgrade from Fitch.

So, what’s fueling this SHIB frenzy? Many analysts and market watchers attribute the coin’s surge to a recent announcement by its developers. They introduced a decentralized blockchain identification system tailored for Shibarium, Shiba Inu’s Layer 2 (L2) scaling solution. Post this revelation, there was a noticeable uptick in Shiba Inu’s on-chain metrics, like its trading volume and social dominance – a testament to the coin’s escalating popularity. Santiment’s data underscores this by highlighting that the coin’s social dominance has peaked at a notable high of 2.914% in recent months.

But the excitement doesn’t end there. The global Shiba Inu community, including South African enthusiasts, is abuzz with anticipation for the Shibarium’s official launch. Word on the street is that Shytoshi Kusama, the lead developer for Shiba Inu, might drop the curtain on Shibarium later this month at the Blockchain Futurist Conference in Toronto – an event where Shiba Inu holds significant sponsorship. The developers behind Shibarium are bullish, projecting it as a viable alternative to the Ethereum blockchain. They forecast this move to catalyze further adoption and amplify SHIB’s value in the market.

Furthermore, market analysts have observed a significant exodus of bearish traders from the SHIB marketplace, largely due to its price plummet before its remarkable weekend resurgence. With the bearish wave receding, a conducive environment was created for bullish traders, propelling SHIB to its current heights.

To add another feather in its cap, as SHIB’s price soared, so did its burn rate. Shibburn, a platform dedicated to monitoring the amount of SHIB transferred to inactive wallets, reported a significant 21.8% spike in the coin’s burn rate over the weekend. For South African crypto aficionados, these developments signify promising times ahead in the realm of meme coins.