Robinhood has announced the listing of four new assets on its platform. A broader selection of cryptocurrencies is one of the aims of the popular trading app.
The broader choice for traders on its platform may be the main story that Robinhood has put out, but it does appear a trifle bizarre that the SHIB token is the one that increases emphatically in price, while the other 3 have just moderate gains.
Shiba Inu is up 15% on the day so far according to CoinGecko. Polygon is up 4.5% on the news, Solana 3.9%, and Compound 4.8%. Looking at the respective market caps also tells a story.
Solana has the sixth biggest market cap, which gives it a value of $34.7 billion. Shiba Inu is in position 15, with $14.6 billion, quite a way ahead of Polygon with $9.7 billion, and Compound languishing well down the rankings with a market cap of less than a billion.
What does this say about the crypto market?
It might be argued that this is telling us that joke meme coins are still in very high demand in crypto. It appears that there is a huge swathe of retail investors who are getting sold on coins with very little fundamentals behind them such as Shiba inu.
While there is nothing wrong with investors buying exactly what they want to buy, it does beg the question – do these investors know what they are buying?
Very legitimate projects such as the other three cryptocurrencies are building exciting and innovative tech which is changing the face of blockchain and finance. What they are developing speaks for itself.
Shiba Inu on the other hand is a spin-off from Dogecoin, which at least has arguably the richest man in the world in the form of Elon Musk behind it. SHIB is pretty much vacuous, but if many investors are going to buy it, then it does look like it might well increase in price over the short to medium term.
Steve Quirk, Chief Brokerage Officer at Robinhood, said the following of the listing:
“We’re excited to add more choices for our customers as we work to make Robinhood the best place to invest in crypto. As a safety-first company, we have a rigorous framework in place to help us evaluate assets for listing, and we remain committed to providing a safe and educational crypto platform.”
It might be wondered if the safety and educational aspects of the Robinhood platform will include a full low-down on the qualities and tech employed by Shiba Inu.
On the other hand, the trading fees for SHIB, as many retail investors pour in to trade it, may just make Robinhood’s listing of the token an extremely profitable move.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
