Dog-themed cryptocurrency Shiba Inu ($SHIB) is closing in on 1.6 million holders, in a push towards a fresh adoption milestone.
Data from Etherscan reveals the dog cryptocurrency now has a total of 1,599,919 holders, with just 81 left to reach 1.6 million addresses.
Recent analysis from EtherscanSHIB, an X account that shares real-time insights and statistics for the Shiba Inu ecosystem, indicates that the holder count continues to climb in July, with 1,633 addresses added in the month so far.
The recent increase comes despite a continued selloff which has impacted Bitcoin and the majority of altcoins, which now trade at multi-year lows.
This prolonged period of stagnation across the altcoin market seems to be pushing investors to their limits. Analysts believe this marks the second-longest underperformance streak since 2020.
Reaching 1.6 million holders would mark a milestone for the Shiba Inu token, putting it among the most widely held cryptocurrencies in the market.
Shiba Inu weighs next move
At the time of writing, $SHIB was down 0.05% in the last 24 hours to $0.0000043, and up 2.84% weekly.
According to CryptoQuant, about 84% of altcoins listed on Binance, including $SHIB, are in a state of total underperformance, trading below the key technical threshold of the 200-day moving average. This has now been the case for nearly eight months.
Amid the negativity, CryptoQuant highlights signs of improvement as altcoin sell pressure fell to a fresh multi-year low after reaching a 5-year extreme in June.
However, more dry powder on the buy side will be needed to sustain a move higher. Unless this happens, any bounce that appears is more likely a short-term technical reaction than the beginning of a trend reversal.
If a recovery scenario plays out, Shiba Inu will eye a return to $0.000005 and then $0.00000622, while the $0.000004 level might be confirmed as short-term support in case the price drops.