Shiba Inu's holder count is growing... Steadily.

Shiba Inu ($SHIB) is quietly adding to its on-chain holder base, even as the wider memecoin sector struggles for relevance. According to Etherscan data, the @Shibtoken memecoin now counts approximately 1,586,297 unique holder addresses. Two weeks ago, that figure stood at 1,584,659, representing a net gain of 1,638 addresses over the period.

Slow and Steady Growth

The numbers are modest, but the direction is consistent. On-chain data has pointed to a gradual, sustained climb in SHIB wallets over the past year. In March 2026, the holder count crossed 1.55 million, with The Crypto Basic reporting that over the prior month alone, the network had added around 8,500 new wallets. That pace has since slowed, but the upward trend has held.

Context matters when reading these figures. Holder count measures unique addresses, not people. One person can control multiple addresses, and custodial addresses can represent many users. Still, the steady rise does suggest that new participants continue to enter the ecosystem while existing holders remain committed.

Long-term holding remains dominant, with 78% of wallets holding their positions for more than one year. That kind of conviction stands out in a market category that has otherwise seen sharp declines in participation.

A Tough Backdrop for Memecoins

The broader memecoin environment offers a stark contrast to SHIB's incremental progress. Total memecoin market capitalization fell from $93.1 billion in January 2025 to $36.5 billion by January 2026, a decline of around 61%. Trading activity also fell sharply, with memecoin trading volume peaking near $20 billion in mid-2025 before sliding to under $3 billion by December.

The sustained contraction reflects waning speculative fervour, oversupply from millions of new tokens, and a rotation of liquidity toward assets perceived to have more durable fundamentals or utility. Against that backdrop, a memecoin that is still adding holders, however slowly, is at least moving in the right direction.

The memecoin market remains highly concentrated, with Dogecoin and Shiba Inu together accounting for about 84% of total memecoin market capitalization. That dominance speaks to SHIB's relative staying power, but it also underlines how much the sector has narrowed around a handful of established names as smaller tokens collapsed.

For $SHIB, the holder growth story is a positive signal, though one that needs to be weighed carefully. Wallet count is one metric among many, and the token still faces headwinds including a massive circulating supply and a price well below its all-time high. For now, slow and steady appears to be the pace.

Sources:
Etherscan: Shiba Inu (SHIB) Token Holder Data
The Crypto Basic: Shiba Inu Holder Growth Report, March 2026
BestBrokers: The Heat Death of Memecoins Report