Is Shiba Inu a Good Buy While It Trades Below $0.01?

Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) technology and new groundbreaking medicines in the weight loss market have been major contributors to the stock market's gains for much of the last year.

While investors have enjoyed generous returns from owning mega-cap technology and some pharmaceutical stocks, it's human nature to wonder about what else is out there and where additional value can be found.

Investment alternatives such as cryptocurrency have gained widespread popularity over the last decade or so -- and one of the more curious cryptos, Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) , could look very tempting as it trades below a penny .

Let's take a look at Shiba Inu and explore whether it's a good buy right now.

What is Shiba Inu?

The first thing to know about cryptocurrency in general is that not all cryptos are alike. Some of the more mainstream cryptos out there include Bitcoin , Ethereum , and Solana . Although each of these still carries some degree of speculation, all these coins have achieved some form of real-world application.

For example, Bitcoin is now accepted as a means of payment at some online stores and retail settings. Moreover, many projects revolving around non-fungible tokens (NFT) tend to rely on Ethereum, Solana, and other prominent cryptos.

Shiba Inu , for its part, is in an entirely other category.

Namely, Shiba Inu is often affiliated with Dogecoin . While Dogecoin has experienced some fleeting volatility in the past -- thanks in large part to some flippant support from high-profile personalities , including Mark Cuban and Elon Musk -- the crypto is largely seen as a joke.

In investing, unserious investments tend to fall under the classification of a meme. Shiba Inu is no exception here. With little to no real-world utility, Shiba Inu is largely viewed as a meme coin .

Image source: Getty Images.

Should you buy Shiba Inu while it trades for under a penny?

Shiba Inu's pricing dynamics closely follow the rules of supply and demand. Right now, Shiba Inu has a total supply of 589 trillion tokens, and the coin trades for just $0.000017.

With such an abundance of Shiba Inu coins available, the asset is anything but scarce. In other words, just about anyone can buy Shiba Inu if they want to. For this reason alone, there isn't much appeal for investors looking to identify a lucrative opportunity.

Given the lack of demand, it's not surprising to see that Shiba Inu trades for less than a penny. Unless a large number of institutional investors poured billions of dollars into buying up Shiba Inu, I fail to see a world where the coin begins to experience any mainstream momentum.

Since cryptocurrency is still considered a speculative investment, I see the prospects of large money managers buying up Shiba Inu in droves to be highly unlikely.

Rather, I think Shiba Inu will continue to be a favorite among a small cohort of retail investors -- specifically, unsophisticated traders who follow the advice of online influencers or phony financial gurus.

If you're looking for exposure to cryptocurrency but can't decide which coin to buy, there are many crypto stocks that could serve as a decent proxy. Companies such as Coinbase , Robinhood , and even MicroStrategy each offer investors some exposure to the crypto landscape, but with some degree of insulated risk.

So while Shiba Inu may look cheap, there are many reasons the value of the coin remains depressed. I think investors are best off leaving Shiba Inu and considering more established cryptos or individual stocks operating in the cryptocurrency realm.

Adam Spatacco has positions in Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Coinbase Global, Ethereum, and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .