Shiba Inu Set to Launch Beta Version of Layer-2 Shibarium

Shibarium, the upcoming layer-2 solution from Shiba Inu, is poised to become a direct competitor to other layer-2 solutions like Arbitrum and Optimism. It aims to enhance scalability, speed, and transaction fees.

Shiba Inu Set to Launch Beta Version of Layer-2 Shibarium

On January 16, Shiba Inu announced that the beta version of Shibarium is expected to launch in the coming weeks, although the exact date and time remain undisclosed. This marks the second instance of speculation surrounding Shibarium, which was previously slated for Q3 2022.

The team emphasizes that this layer-2 solution is designed to support the community in building and developing the Shiba ecosystem. Addressing claims that Shibarium is merely a mechanism to "pump" the price of SHIB, developers assert that this is “not the focus of the project and never has been.”

According to Shiba Inu, Shibarium will also focus on metaverse applications and gaming, positioning itself as an affordable solution for decentralized applications (dApps) on the network. Many in the community have expressed enthusiasm in response.

This development strengthens the “three-legged stool” of the Shiba Inu ecosystem, which includes SHIB, LEASH, and BONE, collectively holding a market capitalization of over $5 billion.

Transactions based on Ethereum will be settled using BONE, the governance token of Shiba DAO. Additionally, BONE will be used to reward validators and delegators on the network, with 20 million tokens (worth $27 million) allocated for payments. The development team has indicated that this system will enhance the utility of BONE.

However, SHIB token has shown little reaction to the announcement. Over the past 24 hours, SHIB has even decreased by nearly 5% and is currently trading around $0.00001043. Trading volume on the same timeframe has also dropped by more than 16%.

Chart: 1h SHIB/USDT on Binance as of 09:10 AM on January 17, 2023