Shiba Inu is one of many meme coins that costs well under $0.01.
Its total supply of 589.5 trillion SHIB tokens limits its growth potential.
Even though it has fallen quite a bit from its 2021 peak, Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) remains a popular meme coin. It's worth about $6 billion, and it recently surpassed 1.5 million holders, demonstrating that there's still interest in it.
Shiba Inu also looks extremely cheap at first glance -- the current price is $0.0000096, as of Nov. 12. At that price, you could pick up over 1 million SHIB tokens for only $10. But when meme coins cost such a tiny amount, it's easy to get unrealistic expectations about how much they can grow.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now, when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks »
Image source: Getty Images.
A common refrain among people who buy meme coins is that they'll be set if the price "just reaches $0.01." However, that's often a much greater leap than it seems, which is why you always need to look at the number of tokens that are already in circulation.
Shiba Inu is the perfect example. It has a total supply of 589.5 trillion SHIB tokens. If it was worth $0.01, it would have a market cap of $5.895 trillion. That's nearly three times as much as the current value of Bitcoin. It's even more than Nvidia, the largest company by market cap. Anything's possible, but I'm fairly certain Shiba Inu is never getting anywhere near $0.01.
That alone doesn't make Shiba Inu a bad investment. It could still increase in value, even without cracking the $0.01 mark. But there's nothing to suggest it has any legitimate utility or long-term value. It's a meme coin that people buy for amusement or in hopes of becoming rich.
Before you buy stock in Shiba Inu, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Shiba Inu wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $624,230!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,187,967!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,069% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 195% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of November 10, 2025
Lyle Daly has positions in Bitcoin and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.