Shiba Inu (SHIB) was one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies during the 2021 bull run. The dog-themed crypto emerged as a worthy contender to Dogecoin (DOGE). SHIB’s price skyrocketed by many million percent within months of its debut. Early investors were static as they turned small investments into generational wealth. Despite its incredible performance in 2021, SHIB has struggled to gain momentum lately. Let’s look at what is holding the asset back.

Key Factor Stopping Shiba Inu’s Price

The one thing that SHIB is essentially missing is hype. Hype was one of the key factors behind many of SHIB’s previous rallies. Granted, Vitalik Buterin’s massive SHIB token burn greatly aided the asset’s 2021 rally. Buterin received half of SHIB’s supply and decided to burn 90% of what he received. While many fantasize about such a burn once again, it simply is not likely to happen again.

Hype is one of the key drivers behind many crypto projects. The NFT boom was deemed the “next big thing” for crypto. This did not pan out quite as well as many hoped. NFTs that sold for millions of dollars have lost nearly 99% of their value. SHIB seems to be facing a similar predicament. Although the project’s massive supply of 589 trillion tokens is another barrier, the hype around the SHIB cryptocurrency has significantly dipped over the last few years.

Shiba Inu lead developer Shytoshi Kusama has also highlighted how burns alone will not drive SHIB’s price. Kusama emphasized the importance of adoption for a price rally. And adoption will likely not increase without the proper hype.

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SHIB could very possibly regain its old lustre. The market conditions have to be right, and investor sentiment needs to be high for this to happen. While Bitcoin (BTC) has hit multiple all-time highs, very few assets have followed this pattern. We are yet to see another 2021-like bull market.