Can SHIB's Token Burn Strategy Still Ignite a Major Rally?

The meme token world wouldn't have been the same without Shiba Inu (SHIB). However, like many other assets, SHIB is also under pressure during the 2024–2025 bear trend

The meme token world wouldn’t be the same without Shiba Inu (SHIB). However, like many other assets, SHIB is also under pressure during the 2024–2025 bear trend, currently trading at $0.0000125287, having dropped 19.35% in the last month. Still, hope remains in the Shiba Inu community, largely due to the project’s strategic token burn campaigns and ecosystem expansion. At the same time, a new meme coin challenger, Little Pepe (LILPEPE), has launched a viral presale, grabbing market attention. Could SHIB’s burn strategy still ignite a major rally, or is Little Pepe about to steal the meme coin spotlight?

SHIB’s token burn strategy: A fire with fading heat?

SHIB’s core deflationary mechanism—the token burn—was introduced as a long-term strategy to reduce the circulating supply and potentially drive up the price through scarcity. As trillions of tokens over time have been sent to burn addresses, the expectation is that SHIB will regain some upward momentum. These token burns are usually associated with ecosystem Shibarium, ShibaSwap, and ShibaSwap NFT marketplaces, which help sustain investor interest.

However, despite ongoing burns, the price impact has largely remained unchanged in recent months. The market seems to be waiting for more aggressive, high-volume burns or stronger utility-driven catalysts to take effect. The deflationary model alone isn’t enough to push SHIB back to its all-time highs. With the coin losing nearly 20% over the last month, traders are asking whether the burn mechanism still holds the power to spark the projected 293% rally.

Market sentiment and SHIB’s struggle to reignite hype

Much of SHIB’s success in 2021 and 2022 came from sheer viral momentum. Backed by a passionate online community and prominent listings, it quickly rose from obscurity to become one of the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap. Fast forward to 2025, and the sentiment has cooled. Despite a $7.38 billion market cap and a substantial ecosystem, Shiba Inu struggles to reignite retail hype in a vastly more competitive meme coin landscape.

Even after major partnerships, Shibarium updates, and the coin’s presence in the metaverse, the lack of substantial price movement despite burns signals a deeper issue — investor fatigue. Retail traders are increasingly gravitating towards newer, trendier meme coins with lower market caps and potentially higher short-term gains. This shift in sentiment is evident in the market’s reaction to new launches, such as Little Pepe (LILPEPE), which has quickly gained attention despite being in the presale stage, potentially diverting capital and attention away from legacy meme coins like SHIB.

LILPEPE is a new meme coin that has quickly gained attention in 2024 with its unique approach to tokenomics and community engagement. Positioned as a meme coin with real utility, zero taxes, and its own Layer-2 blockchain on the horizon, LILPEPE is not just echoing the hype that launched SHIB — it’s evolving it.

With features like staking rewards, low transaction costs, and a robust marketing campaign, Little Pepe is not just launching a token; it’s building a movement. A factor that could be crucial in an era where meme coins are becoming increasingly saturated. As LILPEPE captures the attention of retail investors and meme enthusiasts, it threatens to siphon momentum from legacy players like SHIB.

Unlike SHIB, which has an ample circulating supply and a slowly decreasing burn rate, LILPEPE offers a fresh narrative, a cleaner tokenomics structure, and arguably more room for growth, especially with its presale quickly approaching the final stage. While SHIB fights to reheat a cooling base, LILPEPE is lighting up the market with novelty and speed — a dangerous dynamic for SHIB bulls banking on a dramatic price reversal.