Shiba Inu developers launched Shibarium, a layer-2 blockchain, this week, sending the SHIB community in a frenzy. With this new blockchain, the Shiba Inu team wishes to separate the cryptocurrency from its ‘meme coin’ image. They aim to onboard promising Web3 projects onto its ecosystem, that would push more SHIB tokens into circulation. SHIB developers had been working on developing the Shibarium blockchain since earlier this year.
Layer-2 blockchain networks like Shibarium act as secondary platforms that can increase the scalability of the main blockchain by supporting a wide array of customised dApps and protocols, while maintaining the same security standards offered by the mother chain.
The Shibarium blockchain went live on the mainnet on August 16. Built on the Ethereum blockchain, the Shibarium ecosystem will accept the SHIB token as service fee. Its governance token will be the BONE cryptocurrency.
The new Shibarium blockchain has been launched to reportedly attract players from the metaverse sector and the Decentralised Finance (DeFi) sector to the Shiba Inu ecosystem.
Why DeFi?
DeFi is among some of the most used elements of the crypto and Web3 sector. DeFi apps remove the need for a third party, a bank, or any other intermediary from traditional borrowing and lending of assets. Instead of these intermediaries, smart contracts with pre-agreed terms are used to facilitate lending and borrowing of crypto assets.
As per market research firm Zion, DeFi’s market share is projected to reach around $232.2 billion (roughly Rs. 19,30,499 crore) by 2030.
Meanwhile, the growth rate for DeFi is estimated to be recorded at around 42.6 percent in the next seven years.
Why Metaverse?
The metaverse has been touted as the next big destination for the global gaming community. In 2022, the valuation of the Metaverse market reached $61.8 billion (roughly Rs. 5,13,805 crore) and is projected to increase up to $426.9 billion (roughly Rs. 35,49,248 crore) by 2027.
It, hence, does not come as quite the surprise, that Shiba Inu developers chose to attract players working in the metaverse sector, to operate using the Shibarium blockchain.
In a bid to establish Shiba Inu as a strong name in the metaverse community, its developers launched its own metaverse ecosystem last year.
Frenzy in SHIB community
Shibarium’s beta phase saw a total of 21 million wallets on the L2 blockchain, CoinTelegraph reported.
With the launch of the Shibarium, the Shiba Inu team expects to upgrade its speed of transactions, allow the unification of gaming and NFTs with its ecosystem, while also support up and coming blockchain projects.
Members of the SHIB community, who popularly refer to themselves as the #ShibArmy, have bombarded X (formerly Twitter) with reactions to the Shibarium launch.
Snags with Shibarium
Despite all the cheers from the community on the Shibarium launch, the blockchain has encountered snags after its mainnet launch. A total of 956 ETH worth around $1.7 million (roughly Rs. 14 crore) are stuck on the Shibarium bridge, PeckShield has confirmed on X.
This has caused Shiba Inu-related cryptocurrencies like SHIB and BONE to see price dips.
The Shiba Inu team has not addressed this issue as yet.
