Can Shiba Inu Reach $1 During the Next Crypto Bull Market? The Answer Will Blow Your Mind.

Collectively speaking, cryptocurrencies have been in a bear market since late last year. Although the total value of all coins and tokens in circulation has increased by $500 billion during the past month, it still stands at just $2.8 trillion, which is well below last year's record high of $4.3 trillion. Every major coin continues to nurse steep losses since the 2025 bull market ended, including market bellwether Bitcoin, which is 38% below its peak.

But the smaller end of the market is faring much worse. Meme coin Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) hasn't reached a new high since 2021, when it delivered a mind-boggling return of 45,278,000%. That remains one of the best annual gains in financial market history, but it was driven mostly by speculation, which is why it has failed to rebound.

In fact, Shiba Inu is trading at $0.000005 per token as I write this on Aug. 30, which is 94% below its 2021 peak. But if the recent upside across the broader crypto industry turns into a fresh bull market, could Shiba Inu stage another historic rally and potentially cross the $1 milestone? The answer will blow your mind.

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Adoption remains a weak point for Shiba Inu

Assets need a sustainable source of demand to increase in value. Stocks attract investors because the underlying companies regularly report increased earnings, and real estate prices appreciate because people will always need a place to live on limited inhabitable land.

Many cryptocurrencies also have tangible sources of demand. Ethereum and Solana are used to pay gas (user) fees when running decentralized software applications, while XRP is used to send money around the world over the Ripple Payments network. Bitcoin also has real demand from investors who consider it to be a legitimate store of value and hedge against inflation, thanks to its decentralized structure and limited supply.

Unfortunately, there is no demand for Shiba Inu in the real world. It can be used for payments, but only 1,219 businesses globally are willing to accept it in exchange for goods and services, according to crypto directory Cryptwerk. If consumers can't spend their tokens at their favorite stores, they have no reason to own them.

Furthermore, Shiba Inu isn't linked to any decentralized app platforms, and given that it hasn't set a new all-time high in more than five years amid a broader bull market, it definitely suggests it isn't a good store of value. The lack of organic demand alone explains why Shiba Inu can't seem to regain its past momentum, but there is even more bad news for investors.

Shiba Inu's supply presents an even greater challenge

There are more than 589.2 trillion Shiba Inu tokens in circulation, so at a price of $0.000005 per token, the ecosystem has a market capitalization of about $3 billion. Simple math suggests that a $1 price for each token would translate to a market cap of $589.2 trillion, which would be absurd.

That would make Shiba Inu eight times more valuable than all 500 companies in the S&P 500 stock market index combined. Moreover, $589.2 trillion is about 19 times the annual output of the entire U.S. economy, which was $30.7 trillion last year.

Therefore, it would be absolutely impossible for Shiba Inu to reach $1 per token as things currently stand. But the community is trying to resolve the supply problem by burning tokens, which involves sending them to a dead wallet where they can never be retrieved, permanently reducing the supply outstanding. In theory, the price per token should rise in proportion to the number of tokens burned, so this could create a pathway to the $1 milestone.

It will take a mind-blowing amount of time to burn enough tokens

Based on Shiba Inu's market cap of $3 billion, burning 99.99998% of the 589.2 trillion tokens currently in circulation to leave just 3 billion remaining would, in theory, result in a price per token of $1.

However, the community burned just 387 million tokens in August, which translates to an annualized rate of 4.6 billion tokens. At this pace, it will take 128,000 years to burn enough Shiba Inu to justify a price of $1 -- so it probably won't happen during the next bull market, nor in the 100 or so bull markets after that.

But that isn't even the worst part. Burning tokens to raise the price doesn't create any value, so nobody will make any money. Each investor would have 99.99998% fewer tokens, so even though their remaining tokens would be worth $1 apiece, their net financial position would be exactly the same as it was before.

Well, actually, every investor would be substantially worse off after 128 millennia of inflation.

Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.