Shiba Inu’s Next Move: Can It Pull Off a 410 Trillion Token Burn Like Vitalik Did?

Memecoins love a good spectacle—and Shiba Inu’s community is eyeing a stunt that could shake the crypto world. After Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin torched 410 trillion SHIB tokens in 2021, the question lingers: Can SHIB’s devs or whales execute a burn of that magnitude again?

The hype vs. reality check

Token burns aren’t magic. They’re supply shocks—scarcity theater with math. But SHIB’s decentralized structure means no single entity holds Buterin’s firestarter power. Without a centralized ‘savior,’ coordinated burns rely on collective action—a tough sell in a market where ‘number go up’ beats long-term strategy.

The cynical take

Let’s be real: The crypto crowd loves a good burn narrative. It’s the financial equivalent of burning cash for warmth—thrilling, but rarely sustainable. If SHIB pulls this off, it’ll be less about fundamentals and more about proving memecoins can out-drama traditional finance (again).

Can Shiba Inu Replicate Vitalik Buterin’s Token Burn?

There are still about 589 trillion SHIB tokens in circulation right now. The massive supply is one significant barrier to SHIB’s price. If the asset climbs to high price levels, its market cap WOULD reach unrealistic numbers. Reducing the token supply is one way to propel SHIB’s price.

While a burn may be an easy answer, reducing the project’s supply is no easy task. A lot of the SHIB tokens are held by whale wallets. No one wallet holds that many tokens to replicate Buterin’s massive burn. The burn initiative would need the cooperation of many token holders. This is unlikely to happen.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) lead developer Shytoshi Kusama also highlighted how burns alone will not boost the asset’s price. The project needs high demand to usher in price rallies.

The SHIB team is reportedly working on a new burn mechanism. According to rumors, the new burn mechanism will be capable of burning trillions of tokens yearly. Even if the project burns 2-3 trillion tokens every year, it would take a long time to burn 410 trillion tokens, like Buterin did.

Long story short, it is unlikely that we will ever see another SHIB burn on the same scale as the Buterin token burn.