The second-largest meme coin boosted its worldwide popularity thanks to a major initiative from Japan. However, the SHIB Army was left disappointed after previously expecting a global money manager would launch a SHIB exchange-traded fund (ETF).

The token’s price has been sliding sharply over the past several months, and certain factors suggest that the sell-off may intensify in the near future.

The Latest Developments

Earlier this week, Rakuten Wallet (a crypto exchange run by the Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Group) officially added a physical SHIB coin to its “Real Coin” series. Shiba Inu’s official X account celebrated the effort, saying:

“The fifth release in the collection and the first to feature a premium blast finish.”

Nonetheless, that’s about it with the good news surrounding the meme coin. T. Rowe Price’s crypto ETF has just gone live, yet despite expectations that SHIB would be among the underlying assets, the meme coin was ultimately excluded.

Another development comes from the United States. Arkham revealed that the American government recently transferred $250,000 worth of Shiba Inu seized from FTX and Alameda Research.

“This SHIB will be held by the US government and presumably used to repay creditos in the FTX case,”

Total Ecosystem Setback

Shiba Inu has been going through a rough period lately; interest from traders and investors has dropped significantly, while overall ecosystem activity is barely visible.

The layer-2 scaling solution Shibarium, for instance, which once processed millions of daily transactions, is now in a much weaker condition. The figure has dropped to the mere hundreds, reflecting waning activity and interest among users.

Shiba Inu’s burning program is another worrying factor, with the rate down 54% over the past week, signaling a notable decline in network participation.

SHIB Price Outlook

As of press time, SHIB is worth roughly $0.000004078 (per CoinGecko), a 17% decline on a monthly scale and a colossal 95% collapse from the all-time high registered in late 2021.

The token’s market capitalization has slipped below $2.5 billion, and at one point this year Shiba Inu even fell to the third-biggest meme coin, overtaken by MemeCore (M). Shortly after, it reclaimed the second position, but only thanks to the double-digit collapse that MemeCore (M) experienced.

Despite the negative environment and multiple bearish factors, the community continues to grow. As CryptoPotato reported, the total number of SHIB wallets recently surged to a fresh peak of nearly 1.7 million after an explosive one-day influx of around 75,000 new holders.

Source: CryptoPotato