How to Mine Shiba Inu | The Complete Guide

SHIB is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies on the market right now, so it’s no surprise that you may be wondering how to mine Shiba Inu.

A quick Google search on the topic will hit you with a deluge of content, but not a single one gives you the correct answer quickly. Simply put, you can’t actually mine Shiba Inu.

That being said, Shiba Inu is a very interesting project, and there are ways to earn its SHIB token despite the absence of mining.

In this article, we’ll get into exactly why it can’t be mined, despite all of the cookie-cutter content that tricks you into thinking it can. And if you’re a miner looking for a coin to mine, we’ll also provide a few alternatives that you can aim your hardware at, so read on!

What is Crypto Mining?

One of the main things that sets blockchains apart is the fact that they run on the computers of their users.Some users can simply store a copy of the blockchain, making them an average node, but other users take it a step further and run mining software.

These miners allow the blockchain to function in a decentralized manner,protecting it against attack. There’s safety in numbers because the more miners there are, the harder it is for a bad actor to deploy a majority of the network’s mining hash power.

A lot of miners are in it for the money via block rewards, but mining is actually doing something very important for the blockchain.

A blockchain’s inherent decentralization means that it needs a consensus mechanism or a way for all its nodes to agree on what is considered the truth, whether that refers to the state of the chain or the details of transactions that take place.

This is where miners come in.The transactions that take place on the network are combined into blocks, which miners try to produce by devoting their computing power to the problem.

Once a block is produced, all of the miners can review it and check its veracity. By its miners agreeing on the block being correct, the network attains consensus.

Of course, proof-of-work mining isn’t the only way to reach a consensus. There are other consensus mechanisms out there, including proof of stake, proof of authority, proof of history, proof of replication, and even newer models like proof of burn.

Regardless of how it’s attained, consensus is crucial for a blockchain, and it’s incentivized for that reason. Bitcoin miners are competing for Bitcoin’s vaunted block reward, which is still a six-figure sum at current valuations.

Blockchains use their native coins to incentivize consensus—BTC for mining Bitcoin, ETH for validating Ethereum, ADA for staking Cardano, and so on.

What is Shiba Inu?

Shiba Inu is what’s commonly known as a “memecoin.” Some would go so far as to term it a “shitcoin,” which, while objectively true, may be unfair given the raw heights that Shiba Inu has attained. It was at one point a top 10 cryptocurrency, after all.

It’s impossible to talk about memecoins, shitcoins, and Shiba Inu itself without bringing up Dogecoin. The original memecoin, DOGE, was created as a joke but took on a life of its own, becoming a cryptocurrency with real-world utility and often being used for philanthropy.

SHIB was created opportunistically at the beginning of the 2020/21 crypto bull run and is an unashamed attempt to piggyback on Dogecoin’s fame. Dogecoin may have been named after the meme, but Shiba Inu takes its name directly from the breed of the dog.

Created completely devoid of any utility, Shiba Inu nevertheless debuted with a very ambitious PR stunt. The pseudonymous creator of the token, “Ryoshi,” sent half of the entire SHIB supply to Ethereum founder and one of crypto’s most trusted figures, Vitalik Buterin.

Buterin turned the stunt on its head, burning 90% of what he received and donating the rest to charity.

However, this historical highlight underlines two important things about Shiba Inu—its ties to Ethereum and the creation of its supply. Shiba Inu isn’t actually a blockchain network. It’s an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, meaning that it truly was created out of thin air.

The supply of the SHIB token was minted by its founder and isn’t issued via mining or staking. It was minted, and now it exists. It also made extreme token supply fashionable—creating balances and values with too many zeroes to comprehend at a glance and pipe dreams of what would happen if SHIB reaches $1.

That said, for those who got in early enough, those pipe dreams did become a reality.One punter equipped with either obscene risk tolerance or a real crystal ball dropped $8,000 on SHIB shortly after launch. At Shiba Inu’s all-time high, this stack would have been worth over $5.5 billion—assuming said punter didn’t “paper-hand.”

All of the PR and “hopium” aside, Shiba Inu has slowly carved out its niche and developed something of an ecosystem, including a decentralized exchange (DEX) and several other appropriately dog-themed tokens. There’s even a Shiba Inu metaverse, and the ecosystem is due to launch its own layer 2 network in the not-too-distant future.

Why Can’t You Mine Shiba Inu?

As mentioned previously, blockchains use their native coins to incentivize network nodes that assist in crucial functions, especially consensus.

The thing with Shiba Inu is that it isn’t a blockchain, and the SHIB cryptocurrency is a token, not a coin. The two terms are often interchanged, but one of the main practical differences is that coins can be mined, but tokens can’t since they’re not a network’s native coin.

Dogecoin is different in that it is its own blockchain. DOGE, therefore, can be mined, but SHIB can’t. Even if it could be mined, the entire SHIB supply is already in circulation, so there isn’t any more for the protocol to release.

That being said, it is possible to find ways to earn SHIB tokens if that’s something you really want to do.

How Can You Earn SHIB Tokens?

Many of the guides you’ll find claiming that SHIB can be mined point you toward services like Unmineable. As the platform’s name suggests, it allows you to “mine” cryptocurrencies that are actually not mineable.

What the service actually does is use the hash power that you provide to mine other cryptocurrencies.You have to download the site’s third-party mining software, which will then engage your computer or mining rig to run various mining algorithms.

The site will then keep whatever coins it was using your resources to mine and reward you with the cryptocurrency, like SHIB, that you signed up for. Whether or not you receive a fair amount of SHIB for the hash rate you provide is up to you to decide.

Source: Shiba Inu

Aside from the possibility that you’re getting short-changed for your hash rate, you also need to consider whether you trust the site’s third-party software. This is a decision not taken lightly because your entire computer or computers could be compromised in short order.

Nevertheless, Unmineable is one way that you can trade your hash rate for SHIB—though you could do the same thing yourself by mining some other crypto and trading it for SHIB on an exchange. That way, at least, you’re sure that you’re getting a fair exchange rate even though you’re on the hook for whatever fees, including gas, are involved.

Another way to earn SHIB tokens is through staking. The legitimate way to do this is on the ShibaSwap DEX, a big part of the Shiba Inu ecosystem. ShibaSwap does fun things with various doggy tokens, and staking SHIB mainly returns BONE tokens.

You’ll also earn a small amount of SHIB, although you may need to trade your BONE for more SHIB and stake again if you want to compound your SHIB position. Just watch out for gas fees!

Finally, you can also “stake” your SHIB tokens on various centralized exchange platforms. This isn’t actual staking like it is on ShibaSwap, but on the plus side, the exchange will pay you directly in SHIB tokens. Think of it like a high-yield SHIB savings account, but if the exchange goes bust or locks up your funds, you can lose it all.

Is Earning SHIB Risky?

Unfortunately, risks abound when it comes to cryptocurrency, especially in the world of a low-utility, high-risk crypto like Shiba Inu. However you want to earn SHIB, you’ll have to navigate certain risks.

Platforms like Unmineable, for example, require you to download and run third-party software.If you know your way around a computer, you’ll know what can happen. If you don’t, suffice it to say that there’s no better way to get hacked or infected with a virus than to download and run dodgy software.

Staking on centralized exchanges and centralized staking platforms is also risky because they often fail.Such a statement would have been ridiculed in 2021, but 2022 gave us Celsius, BlockFi, FTX, and many more.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that these kinds of failures are reserved for crypto companies, though. Those same companies operate just like banks do, and guess what? Banks aren’t sustainable, either. Not even halfway into 2023, and we’ve seen several high-profile bank collapses, none more so than Credit Suisse, whose rivals UBS were ignominiously forced into a takeover deal.

ShibaSwap might be the safest bet since it’s part of the Shiba Inu ecosystem, but there are dangers there too. Just trying to find the ShibaSwap site could lead you astray, as the last hit on this pictured search page shows. Can you spot the odd one out?

If you didn’t find anything amiss, look closely at the last hit. The extra A in ‘swap’ shows that it’s a clone site, and connecting your wallet to one of those is a very bad idea. Think this is a one-off? Let’s scroll down a bit more:

Trying to earn a passive income in SHIB is risky, but as long as you know what these risks are, you should be able to avoid, minimize, or otherwise mitigate them. Even the Shiba Inu team knows about the risks involved and has published a “SafeGuarding Guide.”

What Coins Can You Mine Instead?

So, you can’t mine Shiba Inu because it isn’t even a blockchain. There are ways to earn SHIB, but what if you’re here because you just want something to mine with your GPU or mining rig?

Don’t worry—we’ve got you covered! Check out some of these cryptocurrencies instead:

#1. Ravencoin

Ravencoin is one of the most popular cryptos among GPU miners. It’s a fork of Bitcoin with a few key changes, including a shorter block time and an ASIC-resistant mining algorithm. If you want to give Ravencoin mining a try, check out this guide!

#2. Bitcoin Gold

Bitcoin Gold is also ASIC-resistant because its mining algorithm uses more memory than an ASIC generally has. It’s a valuable cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, meaning that it’s relatively stable and lucrative to mine.

#3. Ergo

Ergo is an exciting cryptocurrency project and one of the most popular coins on social media. It’s a smart contract capable, proof of work blockchain that’s part of the Cardano ecosystem, and its ERGO coin has a very attractive distribution thanks to the team having avoided pre-sales and VCs.

#4. Grin

Grin is a privacy coin that doesn’t reveal addresses or amounts on the blockchain and doesn’t store spent output data either. Make sure your GPU has more than 6 GB of VRAM if you want to mine it!

#5. Ethereum Classic

Ethereum Classicforked away from Ethereum a long time ago, so it doesn’t share too many similarities with Ethereum as we know it today. Nevertheless, Ethereum Classic has retained a large following thanks to its code-based philosophy.

#6. Monero

Monero is often considered a great coin to mine because it uses CPUs rather than GPUs. This means you can mine something on your GPU and mine Monero with your CPU at the same time! Want to know more? Here’s our guide on how to mine Monero.

#7. Bitcoin

You can’t mine Bitcoin efficiently with a GPU mining rig because the market is dominated by ASICs, but it’s hard to go wrong with the OG. So, if you don’t already have a GPU or GPU rig ready to go, you could consider investing in some ASICs.

Key Takeaways

Shiba Inu is an Ethereum-based project that can’t be mined because it isn’t its own blockchain. There also isn’t a SHIB token supply sitting in reserve and being generated at intervals like mineable cryptos—SHIB is fully diluted, although the current token supply differs from what it was at genesis due to major token burns.

Despite not being able to mine SHIB, you might be able to earn the token in a few different ways. It’s designed to be staked on Shiba Inu’s own DEX, ShibaSwap, so that’s one way to earn a passive income from SHIB.

That said, staking will require you to buy and stake SHIB tokens. Furthermore, you’ll get BONE tokens for staking SHIB, not SHIB itself.

So, if you’ve got a GPU or a mining rig and want to mine some crypto, SHIB is unfortunately not for you. There are services that offer “unmineable” cryptos, but you could simply cut out the middleman and mine something else yourself before trading your mined coins for SHIB.

How to Mine Shiba Inu FAQ

• Can you mine Shiba Inu?

  No, because SHIB isn’t a coin. Mining means using hash power to secure a blockchain, but the problem here is that Shiba Inu isn’t a blockchain, either.

• How can you earn passive income from Shiba Inu?

  Staking may be the best way to earn a passive income from SHIB. You can stake it on ShibaSwap for BONE tokens or use exchange staking to pick up a small passive income in SHIB.

• Is Shiba Inu legit?

  Shiba Inu is one of the top “shitcoins,” so you could say it’s legit, thanks to the sheer community effect surrounding it. The SHIB token lacks utility, but the community is developing various dApps that may give the token more use.