The top 2,000 whales on the Ethereum ($ETH) network have increased their Shiba Inu ($SHIB) holdings to the point that the meme-inspired cryptocurrency is at the time of writing their largest non-stablecoin holding excluding Ethereum’s $ETH, the network’s native currency.

According to data from whale monitoring service WhaleStats, these whales currently hold, on average, $217 million worth of ETH and $6.5 million worth of USDC. Behind these two assets comes the meme-inspired cryptocurrency, with average holdings of $5 million.

SHIB became one of Ethereum whales’ top holdings shortly after entering the top 10, suggesting ongoing accumulation of the meme-inspired cryptocurrency. Whales have also been betting on Bitpanda’s $BEST token, and on Decentraland’s $MANA.

Whale bets on the meme-inspired cryptocurrency are rising at a time in which SHIB burns have been making new records. According to Shiba Inu’s burn portal. Over 56.2 billion tokens have been burned by its users, up from 29.5 billion before rewards started being distrusted to users burning tokens.

SHIB investors are being awarded $burntSHIB, which can then be used to get $RYOSHI. According to Ryoshis Vision, rewards in the token were initially distributed to every holder of xSHIB, a token awarded to users who staked SHIB on ShibaSwap. For a 20-week period now, RYOSHI is being distributed to those who burn SHIB, as well as those who stake RYOSHI on ShibaSwap and to the project itself.

Earlier this month the pseudonymous lead developer of the meme-inspired cryptocurrency, Shytoshi Kusama has revealed that the ongoing cryptocurrency bear market is an opportunity to “buy or burn” SHIB.

Kusama suggested Shiba Inu investors could take advantage of lower SHIB prices to either increase their holdings or remove more tokens from circulation by burning them. The suggestion came after noting that projects outside of the cryptocurrency space providing revenue, such as the Welly franchise, were “actually a good idea.”

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Featured Image via Pixabay