Key Takeaways
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ShibaSwap is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange (DEX) that lets you swap tokens while earning rewards for providing liquidity, staking, and burning.
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There has been an increase in interest in BONE, largely due to the Shibarium announcement as it will become the Layer 2 solution's 'gas token'.
The evolving meme coin notion is intersecting with the proper technology and decentralized finance. At the helm of this evolution are Shiba Inu and ShibaSwap.
On the surface, ShibaSwap is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange (DEX) that lets you swap cryptocurrencies from the comfort of your personal wallet. On a DEX, you can swap tokens without needing to go through an intermediary or a counterparty, unlike centralized exchanges. ShibaSwap started out as a fork of Uniswap exchange, but now includes user interface and technological changes, while adding rewards for providing liquidity, staking, and burning.
Introducing ShibaSwap
Created by the founders of Shiba Inu and managed by the ShibaSwap community, ShibaSwap features an attractive passive reward system through numerous incentivization schemes, which we’ll cover in depth below.
ShibaSwap has continued to grow in popularity with its parent project – Shiba Inu. Since launching in July 2021, ShibaSwap has recorded an excess of 500,000 members and about 59 trading pairs. ShibaSwap combines the wittiness of Shiba Inu, the sleekness of decentralized finance (DeFi), and unique tokenomics to build a sovereign decentralized exchange platform.
ShibaSwap Tokens
At the core of ShibaSwap’s finance are three native tokens; Shiba Inu (SHIB), Doge Killer (LEASH), and Bone ShibaSwap (BONE). Each has its role in maintaining the functions of the ShibaSwap ecosystem beyond creating financial dynamics.
Shiba Inu (SHIB)
Arguably the most popular meme coin, SHIB was created as the “ultimate Doge killer” and an attempt to improve on the culture created by Doge. Shiba Inu’s creator has remained anonymous to date and goes by the name Ryoshi. In August 2020, Ryoshi minted one quadrillion SHIB tokens. 50% of this figure was locked as liquidity while 50% was sent to the wallet of the Ethereum blockchain’s creator – Vitalik Buterin.
SHIB has seen exponential growth since then, historically eclipsing Dogecoin in market capitalization and cementing its reputation as real competition to the original meme coin.
SHIB is a part of the ShibaSwap ecosystem. It makes up the staking pool, together with LEASH and BONE. SHIB holders can lock up their tokens on ShibaSwap and earn passive rewards of up to 19% APY in BONE at the time of this writing.
SHIB currently trades on most centralized exchanges and Ethereum DEXes. View active SHIB pairs.
Bone ShibaSwap (BONE)
The utility of the BONE token on ShibaSwap is steadily being developed. It is the main token of the ShibaSwap ecosystem.
BONE is the reward token of the ShibaSwap ecosystem. Stakers and liquidity providers are rewarded with BONE. BONE holders can also stake their tokens to receive passive rewards of up to 33% APY in BONE as of time of writing.
BONE is also the governance token of the ShibaSwap ecosystem. Holders of the BONE token can create improvement proposals and also vote on proposals created by other members of the community. With the Shibarium upgrade (discussed in subsequent sections of this article) BONE is set to gain even more use cases, as it will become the Layer 2 solution’s ‘gas token’.
Since end-August 2022, BONE has risen from around $1.07 per token (29 August) to a high of $2.15, and is currently priced at $1.95 — an 81.0% increase. This is thanks to the Shibarium launch announcement.
BONE is actively trading on a number of centralized exchanges, including, BKEX, MEXC Global and BitMart. BONE can also be traded on the ShibaSwap DEX. View active BONE pairs.
Doge Killer (LEASH)
Just like other tokens of the ShibaSwap, LEASH was originally created by Ryoshi as a rebase token (rebase tokens are programmed to respond to shifting demand and supply conditions by automatically increasing or decreasing the tokens in circulation).
However, this plan was scrapped and Leash’s maximum supply is now limited to 107,647. LEASH holders can also stake their tokens or provide liquidity to earn passive rewards. LEASH token can also be used to purchase ShibaSwap NFTs and land on Shiberse – a metaverse project by Shiba Inu.
Like BONE, there has been an increase in interest in LEASH since the release date of Shiba Inu’s layer 2 network – Shibarium was announced. LEASH rose from $463 on 29th August to a 14days high of $691, although it has experienced a pullback and is now trading at around $580 as of time of writing.
LEASH currently trades on Gate.io, BKEX, OKX, Bilaxy, and many other centralized exchanges. LEASH can also be traded on ShibaSwap and Uniswap DEXes. View active LEASH pairs.
ShibaSwap Reward System
ShibaSwap presents ‘handsome’ rewards for most activities performed towards improving the ShibaSwap ecosystem. Your Shiba Inu gets treated to a BONE meal for most actions it takes. For Digging, Burying, sending your Shiba Inu token to the furnace, or simply Woofing; your Shiba Inu gets a handsome Bone reward.
But what is digging, burying, burning, or woofing? Here’s how the reward system works.
Dig
Get your lovely Shiba Inu to do some Digging! There are tons of BONE underground! ‘Digging’ is a reward strategy for liquidity providers on ShibaSwap. To Dig, users will need to provide liquidity for a selected pair of tokens. Liquidity providers earn BONE rewards on the ShibaSwap Liquidity Pool (SSLP) tokens.
Woof
Woof is the ShibaSwap liquidity pool (SSLP) token staking reward program. After digging into the liquidity pool, get your Shiba Inu to Woof! Depending on the fraction of the liquidity pool you control, your SSLP tokens earn you BONE tokens at a predetermined APR when staked. You can Woof (claim) the earned tokens to your wallet by adding more SSLP or withdrawing your SSLP tokens.
When you claim your earned BONE by adding or withdrawing SSLP, only about 33% of your earned token is sent to your wallet instantly. The remainder of your earned tokens is vested for 6 months after which they can be claimed. The vested tokens are said to be UNWOOFABLE for this period.
Bury
‘Bury’ is the single asset staking program for SHIB, BONE, and LEASH holders. Simply Bury (stake) your tokens on the staking portal and earn passive rewards in indicated APY. The APY for each token varies according to specified conditions.
Burn
Shiba Inu launched with quadrillions of tokens in circulation. Ethereum blockchain founder Vitalik Buterin historically burnt a majority of the 50% supply sent to his wallet before donating the rest to a COVID-19 charity project. Even with this, plenty of SHIB tokens remain in circulation.
This huge amount of token supply was (and still is) a turn-off for investors. The Shiba Inu community became devoted to reducing this supply by burning the tokens through the traditional smart contract token burning process.
However, the normal burning process requires a basic understanding of smart contract technology to perform a burn transaction.
To facilitate the token burning program, Shiba Inu founder – Ryoshi – developed a simplified portal for token burning and a reward strategy for holders who burn their tokens. Shiba Inu holders who burn their tokens receive BURNTSHIB, which represents the number of tokens they have burnt. BURNTSHIB holders receive passive rewards in the form of RYOSHI tokens, where 0.49% of the transaction fees generated from RYOSHI tokens are distributed to BURNTSHIB holders.
Other Features of the ShibaSwap Ecosystem
Besides the Reward system, there is a whole lot more that goes on in the ShibaSwap Ecosystem. Here are what you can do on ShibaSwap:
Token Swaps
Just like the name suggests, ShibaSwap offers users a platform to perform seamless swaps without jeopardizing the custody of their wallet. Just tell your Shiba Inu to ‘fetch’ a new token and it will. The swap portal leverages the liquidity pool and Automated Market Maker (AMM) protocols to enable users to fetch the desired token from a basket of assets.
Governance Voting (Doggy DAO)
A DAO governs ShibaSwap. Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are a systemic design structured to ensure generalized and undiluted participation of the members of an organization. In cryptocurrency communities, rights to this participation are tokenized and every token holder is considered a member of the DAO.
Through voting portals, holders of BONE tokens can vote on proposals submitted by other community members and submit their improvement suggestions to be voted on by the rest of the holders. These can cover various issues like bursary management and which pairs are to be added to the ShibaSwap exchange platform.
For instance, this proposal suggests changes to the BONE farming program to sustain BONE supply for rewarding validators on the Shibarium network. Holders of BONE token will vote in support or against this notion. The proposal will be passed if it gains the majority vote.
NFTs and Gamefi
Shiboshi is ShibaSwap’s integrated NFT project. Shiboshis are a collection of 10,000 unique NFTs minted on the Ethereum blockchain. Each Shiboshi is unique and bears special traits. Shiboshis can be minted and traded on ShibaSwap. Recent developments reveal plans to transform the Shibosis NFTs into characters in the upcoming Shiboshi game. The NFTs’ traits will be translated into special abilities for characters in the game.
Bonefolio
Bonefolio is ShibaSwap’s analytics platform. Bonefolio presents exclusive information on most aspects of ShibaSwap. Information on liquidity pairs, staked (buried) assets, SSLP token staking pools, and many more can be found on Bonefolio. Bonefolio gives users and visitors an overview of ShibaSwap, its progression, and a breakdown of activities on the platform, providing a source of information for holders and potential investors to make decisions.
How to Use ShibaSwap
ShibaSwap presents a comprehensive interface for users. Performing the basic actions on ShibaSwap is a straightforward process. Activities that can be performed on the ShibaSwap platform include asset staking, liquidity provision and management, governance, and NFT transactions.
Visit the ShibaSwap platform and select the activity you wish to perform on the homepage.
To perform Token swaps, click “Swap” and fill out your desired exchange parameters on the page that follows. Ensure that the swap conditions (such as exchange rate and price impact) are satisfactory before completing the swap process.
To provide liquidity, Click “DIG” and follow the instructions in the subsequent pages to provide liquidity for selected pairs. Manage your SSLP, Stake, or Unstake your SSLP on the “WOOF” section.
To vote on proposals, Click “Doggy DAO” to see active proposals and cast your vote.
To participate in the exclusive Shiboshis NFT project, click “NFT'' from the homepage to be redirected to the Shiboshis’ NFT platform.
What is the Shibarium
The Shibarium is a Layer 2 solution developed by ShibaSwap, where the BONE token is being developed to foster this network. BONE will serve as the gas token on the Shibarium, which will offer ShibaSwap users certain user experience improvements such as faster transactions, cheaper fees, and an overall more agile and efficient alternative to the Ethereum mainnet without compromising security.
Beyond ShibaSwap, Shiba Inu’s Metaverse project – Shiberse will be launched on Shibarium. The fast Sibarium network is expected to optimize the experience of anyone exploring the Shiberse.
What are Layer 2 solutions?
Layer 2 solutions are a collection of protocols and technologies geared towards scaling the Ethereum blockchain. Layer 2 solutions take the bulk of transactions on the Ethereum blockchain away from the ‘congested’ main net. Moving away from the main net and utilizing scalability infrastructures gives projects built on Layer 2 certain gilt-edge advantages.
Layer 2 networks built using Layer 2 solutions maintain a solid security system by relying on the Ethereum mainnet for the final validation of transactions.
Is ShibaSwap safe?
Independent security audits conducted on ShibaSwap after its launch produced different results.
According to a security audit released by DeFiSafety, the protocol scored only 3% overall, with 0% for security, code and testing.
ShibaSwap is up with a devastating 3% score. If you are looking for a prime example of what absolute negligence looks like in a protocol, look no further than this. Zero Transparency. You are putting your money in a black hole. https://t.co/dUzU0vvCHW @ChrisBlec @ShibArmy #DeFi pic.twitter.com/QG3ykYakdt
— DeFiSafety (@DefiSafety) July 7, 2021
Security audits also originally revealed that a single signatory account controls the assets locked on the ShibaSwap platform. While this has been updated to a multi-signature account requiring six of nine Safe Owners to sign off before any transactions can be executed, it remains possible that all the addresses may be owned by a single entity. The project also scored very low for the clarity of information provided in its whitepaper.
The ShibaSwap team (which still remains anonymous to date) proceeded to modify the smart contract and add multiple signatories for asset-control accounts. Security audits that followed this still hint at the possibility of these signatories being controlled by a single entity.
ShibaSwap’s anonymous team alone makes a case for a safety dilemma and calls for cautionary measures, especially with the widespread attacks on DeFi protocols and decentralized applications.
However, an audit by CertiK gave ShibaSwap a security score of 92/100, highlighting the protocol’s relatively decentralized nature, along with its large market cap.
Regardless, ShibaSwap still has over $49 million worth of crypto assets under its control according to the Total Value Locked on its homepage (at the time of this writing) and hasn’t reported any exploitations recently. Even though the asset currently under management is very much below the $1 billion Total Value Locked (TVL) it gained within 72 hours of launch, it is still a significant figure.
On the blockchain level, ShibaSwap is built on the Ethereum blockchain which gives it an extra layer of security and blockchain-level decentralization relative to projects built on less-secure platforms. But the protocol itself might still be prone to technological exploitations like most other decentralized applications. Users are hence advised to take cognizance of verified security information while interacting with the platform and other decentralized applications.
Final thoughts
Even if you are not enticed by the idea of “Digging for BONES”, it’s likely that you’d love to Bury your dormant tokens and earn passive rewards on them.
ShibaSwap incorporates the most enticing concepts known to the cryptocurrency community: yield farming, passive income, NFTs, and GameFi. Once the Shiboshi game and NFT are launched, we could see ShibaSwap make the headlines again.
The ShibArmy has grown into a force and their support has been a significant factor so far. They still have a role to play going forward for ShibaSwap and other Shiba Inu projects.
However, it is equally important to be aware of the caveats around ShibaSwap and the fact that decentralized applications are fertile grounds for hackers and scammers. After all, the ShibaSwap team remains anonymous, and the warnings around lack of transparency and documentation, despite not being verified, should be considered. Investors should endeavor to do their own research and apply caution while interacting with the platform.
Joel is deeply interested in the technologies behind cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks. In his over 7 years of involvement in the space, he helps startups build a stronger internet presence through written content. Follow the author on Twitter @agboifesinachi
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