TL;DR: With a new update or NFT collection being released almost every day, it’s clear the crypto ecosystem is constantly evolving. The Shiboshis is one of the NFT collections paving the road to the digital universe — but it’s just the beginning. Knowing what brought it here and why it was created will lead you to make better decisions when investing or simply interacting with The Shiboshis.
In this article, we’re gonna dive into the Shiboshis lore, answer all the Shiboshis-related questions and even more. Prepare yourself for a fantasy story and a journey to the future of The Shiboshis!
What is The Shiboshis?
The Shiboshis is an NFT collection of 10,000 PFPs that live on the Ethereum blockchain.
Right off the bat, Shiboshis strike out as a pixelated artwork comprising Shiba Inu dogs wearing different clothing and accessories. Pixel artwork is a core part of the crypto culture, and Shiboshis took full advantage of it.
Despite the innate simplistic design of pixels, Shiboshis artwork is much more detailed than the CryptoPunks. Each NFT has a well-defined expression — the kind you would expect to see in a retro game.
Shiboshis exhibit a wide range of expressions — tongue out, holding a bone, growling, winking — made to appeal to a diverse audience. Themes of the artwork range from a simple dev shirt, and army suit, to fandom elements from Dragon Ball Z, Batman, Iron Man and Japanese clothing (fisherman clothing to be more precise). Crypto motifs are also present in the artwork, embodied by laser eyes and meme glasses.
For those nostalgic about Nintendo games, Shiboshis represent a crafty piece of art to own.
Owning an NFT is different than screenshotting a JPEG — just like holding an original Rembrandt is more valuable than owning a replica. As their name suggests, NFTs are non-fungible by design. This is different from digital tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Fungible assets can be exchanged for another asset of the same type, much like BTC, ETH, or even fiat. NFTs, on the other hand, are unique assets where their ownership details are documented on the blockchain, ensuring digital scarcity and unique attributes for each asset.
But how exactly is digital scarcity being enforced?
The concept of NFTs first emerged in 2012 with the creation of Colored Coins, which could be used to represent real-world assets on the blockchain. However, Colored Coins only worked in a permitted environment, making it more similar to a database than anything else.
As the crypto industry became more popular, people have continued to experiment with the idea of a digitally scarce asset. This led to the creation of ERC-721 and ERC-1155.
The ERC-721 standard is like a set of rules for making NFTs. These actions help in making special tokens with their unique information, making them different from one another.
Behind the scenes, ERC-721 smart contracts keep a list of who owns which token, making it safe to pass tokens from one person to another. The contract also keeps count of how many tokens there are altogether and how many each person has.
As previously mentioned, The Shiboshis NFTs are secured by the Ethereum blockchain. Ownership and transaction history are publicly visible on the Ethereum blockchain along with other important info such as the NFT’s metadata.
Understanding how to access an NFT’s metadata is essential for holders to grasp the specifics of what they’re buying.
Metadata usually includes visual attributes like color, type, wearables, and so on. On the blockchain, it looks something like this:
The Shiboshis have their own set of traits that make up their uniqueness. These are accessories, backgrounds, clothes, eyes, fur, headwear, and mouth.
Some traits are rarer than others, which makes a specific NFT stand out from the rest. For example, only 20 Shiboshis with Batman masks exist.
Rarity is a mix of these traits. As a general rule, the rarer the traits, the more valuable the NFT.
The Shiboshis NFT collection has been autogenerated. This means that out of the potential combinations, only 10,000 The Shiboshis will ever exist!
In addition to the original mint, the founder has hand-drawn 10 legendary The Shiboshis. Skull Lords are the rarest of the rare and can be found under Uniqueness Index 1.
What is the utility of The Shiboshis?
The Shiboshis make for an awesome avatar pic, but it’s also your ticket to the Shiboshis Social Club.
Every NFT has its community, but none compares to the exclusivist Shiboshis Club. It’s so exclusive that only Shiboshis owners have access. As a Shiboshi owner, you get to be in touch with the dev and core team, receive alpha rights from the team, and get whitelisted for future projects.
As the Shiboshis brand expands, NFT holders will be able to continually earn rewards. Whether you are hodling for a season or longer, the Shiboshis ecosystem continues to explore new ways of keeping holders engaged.
Who created The Shiboshis?
The Shiboshis were created by the Shiba Inu team in 2021. While Shiba Inu is an ecosystem in its own right, the NFT collection came as a complementary feature for the SHIB community.
On October 14, 2021, the Shiba Inu community was offered Shiboshis, allowing members to own unique digital collectables. These 10,000 NFTs were sold in various batches at different prices.
During the initial sale, the first 3,000 Shiboshis were minted and sold for 0.1 ETH worth of LEASH tokens. Subsequently, the next 5,000 NFTs were offered at 0.2 ETH worth of LEASH, while the remaining 2,000 were priced at 0.3 ETH worth of LEASH. Within 34 minutes, the entire collection sold out.
To encourage more widespread participation, each wallet was limited to purchasing a maximum of 10 Shiboshis during the initial release.
Initially accessible via the ShibaSwap decentralized exchange, Shiboshis became available on other NFT marketplaces, including OpenSea.
Since its launch, Shiboshis have seen substantial trading activity, with over 3,400 ETH (approximately $10.7 million at the time of writing) traded across various marketplaces.
Some Shiboshis have notably experienced significant price surges, with a few reaching as high as 50 ETH.
Who is developing The Shiboshis now?
The Shiboshis are being maintained by Shiba Inu Games and the Shiboshi owners.
Shiba Inu Games is an associated company aimed at fostering game development within the Shiba Inu Ecosystem. Following the establishment of Shiba Inu Games, Shytoshi unveiled the partnership with PlaySide Studios to initiate the development of their first game, Shiba Eternity.
Because Shiboshis represent only a tiny part of the Shiba Inu ecosystem, their future is tied to the development of Shiba Inu’s gaming ecosystem.
The team teased an integration of Shiboshis NFTs with the Shiba Eternity, a competitive card game. As of 2023, Shiba Eternity had +100,000 downloads and an average rating of 4.8 on both the Google Play Store and iOS App Store.
Shiboshis owners have a say in the development, design, and implementation of the NFTss and their affiliated projects. Example: voting on the initial artwork samples provided by PlaySide.
Investors are also an important component of every NFT ecosystem. Although they don’t get involved directly in the governance of the project, they do exert an influence over the brand’s expansion into the mainstream. As of 2023, Shiboshis pursued no strategic funding.
How does The Shiboshis make money?
Now, let’s get to the juicy part – how do The Shiboshis make money?💰 (No, flipping and rug pulling are not the correct answers)
The answer to this question is strongly related to intellectual property.
Think of popular trademarks such as Mickey Mouse, Spider-Man, or Coca-Cola. Every time you see movies, books merch, or posters with them, know that the owners of the IP get a share of the profits. The same thing goes with the NFT holders, in theory.
When it comes to NFTs, it’s quite challenging to fit them into the traditional framework of copyright law. To give more context, owning an NFT doesn’t mean holders have automatic control over the creative work. This creative control needs to be granted by the creator.
As such, NFT holders should pay attention to what IP rights, if any, come with owning the NFT. Alex Slayer, the founder of The Shiboshis, has authorized the use of the IP of any individual's owned skulls. This means NFT holders have full commercial rights to the art in their owned wallets. There are no monetary limits on earnings on merchandise, derivatives or other commercial uses.
Another way of generating revenue is via royalties. As of 2023, The Shiboshis made no intention of enforcing royalty fees from transacting NFTs.
While there's no official confirmation yet, Shiboshi NFTs are anticipated to play a significant role in SHIB: The Metaverse, the Shiba Inu community's virtual world and digital fun zone.
These Shiboshis are more than just pictures on a screen. They might step into the Shiba Inu metaverse, becoming avatars or digital buddies that users can hang out with, making the experience even more engaging.
Similar to how the Shiboshi Social Club gives a cool VIP vibe in the Web3 world, the SHIB metaverse might have areas accessible only to Shiboshi holders. These spaces could host special events, virtual parties, or unique game zones.
Each Shiboshi’s unique traits and features could offer special abilities within the metaverse. For example, a Shiboshi with laser eyes might have extra skills or powers in the virtual world.
What's cool is that Shiboshi owners might get the chance to trade, rent, or display their NFTs in virtual galleries, potentially opening up new ways to make and grow their digital coin collection.
Where can I buy The Shiboshis?
You can buy The Shiboshis on OpenSea.
