Shiba Inu crypto token can now be used to buy land in the metaverse, too

The Shiba Inu crypto token, commonly referred to as SHIB, can now be used to buy land on Shiba Inu’s metaverse that was launched in April this year. So far, SHIB: The Metaverse only allowed users to buy land on the platform using Ether (ETH). The addition of SHIB as a viable currency on the metaverse platform adds to the memecoin Shiba Inu’s growing set of use cases.

Interestingly, the SHIB token was so far not involved in any of the functionings of SHIB: The Metaverse. The playable virtual world premiered last month, offering a total of 100,595 pieces of land that could be purchased on it. The initial auction phase put up about 36,000 pieces of land for sale, but only users who held Shiba Inu altcoin BONE or LEASH were eligible to participate in the auction.

The auction divided the lands in the metaverse into four tiers – silver fur, gold tail, platinum paw and diamond teeth. The minimum auction prices set for each of the tiers were 0.2 ETH, 0.3 ETH, 0.5 ETH and 1 ETH, respectively. Interested parties could bid higher prices for land in the Shiba Inu metaverse, and at the close of the auction, the highest bidder was rewarded as the owner of the land.

The owner, according to statements on Twitter from Shiba Inu, could “generate passive income”, alongside gathering in-game resources and generating rewards that could be in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). However, no further details regarding this “passive income” or the platform’s rewards have been revealed as of now.

Shiba Inu started off as an Ethereum-based alternative to Dogecoin (DOGE), which itself was a memecoin to begin with. The latter is what crypto tokens without any specific purpose or service in the web3 ecosystem is called. For SHIB, much of its popularity today has been linked to tweets made by Tesla and SpaceX chief, Elon Musk.

After Musk expressed interest and support for SHIB last year, the token saw its price skyrocket. Since then, as many criticised Musk’s tweets and spoke against the rise of memecoins without any real backing, prices of SHIB have nosedived. As of today, the token is down by nearly 75% over the past six months – and nearly 20% in the past month, according to data from crypto market tracker, Coinbase.