SHIB Soars 30% on Kraken Listing Despite Competitors’ Regulatory Concerns
Mercurial memecoin Shiba Inu (SHIB) shot up 31.4 percent in a day after this week’s listing by crypto exchange Kraken to reach its highest mark since November 19.
After launching on Coinbase in mid-September, Brazilian exchange NovaDAX listed SHIB a month later with Gemini, Binance and Indian exchange CoinDCX following suit in November. SHIB has also been integrated by crypto payments service CoinGate, allowing users, merchants, traders and gift card shoppers to accept, buy, trade or spend the token.
Another positive sign for SHIB is its adoption by major tech e-retailer Newegg as a means of payment on its platform.
Whale Grabs Another 24.8 Billion Tokens, Now Holds $59m in SHIB
Soon after the announcement of SHIB’s Kraken listing, an anonymous crypto whale using the alias Gimli increased his holdings by 24.8 billion tokens, worth over US$1 million at the time of the purchase, to a total of US$59 million in SHIB.
Kraken has also clarified that SHIB will be tradeable against the euro and the US dollar with a minimum of 50,000 SHIB (US$2.48) required to open an order.
Kraken Defies Competitors’ Regulatory Concerns
Kraken’s decision to list SHIB stands in stark contrast to other digital asset exchanges, such as Robinhood, that have avoided listing altcoins like SHIB over regulatory concerns.
With 93 assets in total, Kraken is considered one of the least conservative exchanges. (Coinbase supports 51 assets and Robinhood only supports seven.) Other exchanges have been hesitant to list the so-called Dogecoin-killer over regulatory concerns, despite increasing pressure from their users.
On November 26 SHIB surpassed 1 million holders, despite trading 50 percent below its all-time high. Hedge fund manager Michael Burry has publicly questioned the token’s worth. Burry, founder of private investment firm Scion Asset Management and famous for forecasting the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, described the SHIB token as “pointless” in an October 9 tweet.