Unboxing Cryptos — Is Saitama the Next Shiba Inu?

Meme coins have had tremendous success over the past couple of years. Dogecoin led the charge, challenged by the upstart Shiba Inu, which briefly dethroned it as the meme coin with the largest market cap. Other challengers like Floki Inu and Dogelon Mars have been left in the meme coin dust by the two market leaders. However, many in crypto land believe these two could still be worthy challengers to the “big dogs”, no pun intended. There are countless other coins with all sorts of fancy dog names trying to replicate the Dogecoin and Shiba Inu success stories.

One coin that’s flown under the radar but is quietly making a name for itself is Saitama. Saitama is a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain. The name Saitama — at least according to the project’s whitepaper — is from a “ghost dog” that is said to roam the mountains in the Saitama region of Japan. Saitama is not just an ordinary dog, but a wolf, and the Saitama community is known as the Wolfpack. But apart from being an adoring wolf meme, what are the qualities that give Saitama even a whisker of a chance in joining Dogecoin and Shiba Inu at the top of the meme coin game? I’ll take a look at that in this piece.

The Meme Coin Frenzy

Dogecoin is the crypto project that got the meme coin frenzy going. Started a joke, Dogecoin captured the imagination of crypto traders and influencers, rising to become a top ten coin. Shiba Inu bills itself as the Dogecoin killer, hoping to eclipse Dogecoin’s market cap. This it did briefly a few weeks ago, but failed to hold the top spot for long. It has, however, stayed close to Dogecoin in terms of market cap.

It’s hard to identify one thing that has made meme coins popular. They have thrived on hype from influencers — the most well-known being Elon Musk shilling Dogecoin. They also have large numbers of followers who shamelessly promote these coins on social media and in crypto-focused messaging channels, such as Telegram and Discord. Dogecoin, for example, has 2.6 million followers on its Twitter page while Shiba Inu has 2.3 million. Aside from having large numbers of followers and hodlers, most meme tokens offer little in utility. Dogecoin’s website states it is “an open source peer-to-peer digital currency, favored by Shiba Inus worldwide.” It offers nothing beyond that, but merchants have started to accept it as a form of payment, simply because of its popularity. Supporters say that is its use case.

Shiba Inu has differentiated itself from Dogecoin and other memes by building an ecosystem around its token. Shiba has two other coins in its system, BONE and LEASH, which provide other functionality within the Shiba system. Shiba also has its own decentralized exchange (DEX), called ShibaSwap. ShibaSwap allows users to buy and sell different coins, stake their Shiba Inu, provide liquidity to the Shiba system and earn rewards for doing so, and trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Shiba Inu positions itself as more than just a shiny dog, but a real cryptocurrency with useful applications.

Where Does Saitama Fit in All of This?

Saitama was launched in May of this year. According to its website, Saitama is “a community driven platform promoting financial well-being by empowering people of all ages and cultures to be in control of their money and create their own wealth opportunities.” Every cryptocurrency has its lofty ideals, but one has to take them with many grains of salt. Many projects in the crypto graveyard had great sounding mission statements. When researching a project, one has to look past the enticing words, and consider what the project actually brings to the table that could make it stand out in an increasingly crowded field.

Saitama has several use cases which its developers believe will differentiate it from other meme coins.

1. SaitaMask is a smart wallet that can be used to store crypto tokens. The goal is for SaitaMask to be a one-stop shop for decentralized finance. In addition to storing coins, it will allow users to purchase tokens with bank cards, buy and sell goods and services with cryptocurrencies, provide financial education, and create and trade NFTs. Saitamask aims to not just be another wallet but to provide a service where all crypto transactions can be done without having to use multiple platforms, as is often the case. SaitaMask has been completed and its code is being audited. It is expected to be released soon and could generate more interest in Saitama.
2. Another tool being developed by the Saitama team is SaitaMarket. This is a marketplace within the Saitama ecosystem which will allow users to purchase goods and services with Saitama and other tokens.
3. SaitaMaker is an NFT platform that will allow users to create NFTs and trade projects using the Saitama platform.
4. SaitaEdutainment will be a multi-channel content publishing platform providing financial education while entertaining users. This is a novelty development, as crypto projects aren’t in the habit of providing financial education, although they are really financial products. Saitama hopes to educate the masses on how to save, invest, manage money and create wealth opportunities. The team will publish proprietary content and will also allow community members to publish content on the site.
5. Also cited in Saitama’s white paper is Saitama Studios. This is supposed to be a studio developing games, TV shows, books, toys, NFTs and custom products for third-party brands.

Saitama has an ambitious agenda, and successfully developing these tools could set it apart from other meme tokens and many leading projects which typically focus on one or two use cases. These projects will take time, and SaitaMask is the only one that is close to completion. Holders and potential holders of the token are eagerly awaiting Saitamask. Its release could be a make-or-break moment for Saitama.

Saitama has also started working on the Edutainment platform, though it’s unclear how far along that is. SaitaMaker is next on the roadmap, but there is no date as to when it will start. The other projects have not been added to the roadmap, so it’s unclear when those will commence.

Token Features

Saitama is an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network. It can be purchased on decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap and Sushiswap, and on centralized exchanges such as Poloniex and Hotbit. Saitama provides passive income to holders by withholding and distributing 2% of every transaction to them. Holders do not need to do anything to receive this. It is automatically distributed to their wallets.

Saitama is a deflationary token. Two percent of all transactions is taken out of circulation, which means the supply is constantly shrinking. This lowers the gap between supply and demand and could lead to higher prices.

Saitama has an anti-whale trap which prevents large holders from manipulating the price and dumping the token. There is not much information on how this is done, but if it works it could support higher prices by preventing dumping by whales.

Community

Any successful cryptocurrency — meme or otherwise — needs a vibrant community to grow and prosper. Since its launch, Saitama has grown a large and engaged community. Saitama has 205K followers on its Twitter page, and while those pale in comparison to Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, it is a good number for a project that launched less than a year ago.

Team

One should always consider the quality and openness of the team leading a project when analyzing cryptocurrencies. Knowing who makes up the team is of paramount importance. The Saitama team and their backgrounds are disclosed on the website, with links to their Twitter profiles. Saitama is run by its community of holders, with team members agreed on by the community. Team leaders comprise members with years of experience in technology, finance, media, marketing and other disciplines. Launching and growing a cryptocurrency platform is serious business, and a team with varied skills is necessary if the program is going to achieve success. Saitama — at least on paper — seems to have a good team to steer the ship.

Security

The Saitama smart contract has been fully audited by TechRate. The audit did not find any high-level security issues. A couple low-level issues were found, which were addressed. An audit does not guarantee that there are no security flaws in a contract, but it provides some level of assurance that the code at least complies with acceptable coding standards.

Price Trend

Saitama’s price reached an all-time high of $0.0000001674 mid-November, but has since fallen to $0.00000003343 per Coinmarketcap, with a market cap of $1.5 billion. This pales in comparison to Dogecoin’s market cap of $23 billion and Shiba Inu’s $18 billion. Despite the recent drop, the token is still up over 100,000% (actual percentage varies depending on the exchange). Shiba Inu is up millions of percent since its inception, which gives some idea of the potential for a coin like Saitama. Any move to a market cap close to the leaders would see a significant rise in price.

The Verdict

All things considered, Saitama makes a strong case for being the next meme coin to take off. The project is headed by what appears to be a strong team and is developing real-world applications. However, predicting crypto price movements is a dicey game, and no one knows for sure what will happen. Saitama has the ingredients to be a successful meme coin, but its success will depend on how well it can bring its suite of projects to life and its ability to attract new investors to the token. Failure to execute could set it back or even doom the project. Great execution and it could be the next meme coin going to the moon.

…

This article is for information and educational purposes only, and nothing stated herein is to be construed as investment advice. Neither the author nor the publication takes any responsibility or liability for any investments, profits, or losses you may incur as a result of this information. Please do your own research and due diligence before making any investment decisions. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of the information in this article, but makes no representations or warranties, expressed or implied, to its accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or correctness. The author may own cryptocurrencies discussed in this article.