What Is Shiba Inu's Shibarium Layer-2, and When Will It Launch? (2024)

Shiba Inu is a popular ERC-20 token that first launched as a memecoin but has gained a strong following. And now, the Shiba Inu project is set to launch a Layer-2 network, Shibarium, to build out the cryptocurrency, make it more appealing to users, and add additional functionality.So, what is Shibarium, and how will it affect Shiba Inu?

What Is Shibarium?

At its core, Shibarium is a Layer-2 blockchain solution. A Layer-2 solution exists on top of a Layer-1 blockchain. In this case, Shibarium is a Layer-2 solution existing on top of the Ethereum blockchain, the Layer-1 solution. The Shiba Inu project is built on the Ethereum blockchain, with its native SHIB asset being an ERC-20 token.

The Shibarium network was first proposed in 2021 by Shiba Inu's creator, Ryoshi. But it wasn't until 2023 that things began really taking shape.

On the 1st January, 2023, a new Twitter account named "Shibarium" was opened. The initial tweet consisted of an emoji and the number 2023, but just a few days later, posts about the Shibarium network began popping up. The official Shiba Inu Twitter page also began retweeting the posts made by the Shibarium account.

It soon became clear that Shibarium is intended to develop Shiba Inu into an expansive crypto-based ecosystem. In a Shiba Inu blog post, it was stated that Shibarium would stand as a "transitional evolution to the Shiba Ecosystem."

This evolved ecosystem will comprise a number of elements, including ShibaSwap, Shiba Inu's native decentralized exchange. In addition, Shibarium will also include a Shiba Inu metaverse and a gaming ecosystem.

Shibarium can also be used to process transactions off-chain, as it is a Layer-2 solution. Off-chain transactions take place outside the Layer-1 blockchain and are often much faster than on-chain transactions. However, they still record to the blockchain, just in a slightly different way.

Within the Shibarium network, a token known as BONE will be used to pay gas fees.

Ethereum gas fees are charged to all Ethereum users to compensate for the computational power used to power the entire network. Because Shiba Inu is an Ethereum-based project, gas fees apply to its users. BONE will also serve as the token with which Shibarium validators are paid.

Shibarium will incorporate many Shiba Inu-based tokens, including SHIB, LEASH, BONE, TREAT, and SHI. These assets all have different prices and purposes. For instance, SHI is a stablecoin, BONE is a governance token, and TREAT is a reward token.

So, what changes will Shiba Inu experience due to this new Layer-2 solution?

How Will Shibarium Affect Shiba Inu?

Shibarium will bring a number of benefits to the Shiba Inu network, starting with scalability. Specifically, Shibarium can provide greater scalability for transaction processing, resulting in higher transaction speeds. In turn, Shiba Inu will have the capacity to take on a higher transactional load, ideally leading to network growth.

On the topic of transactions, Shibarium can also help in lowering transaction fees. This is because Shibarium can process transactions off-chain, which are fed back to the Layer-1 blockchain. Therefore, committing transactions to Shibarium off-chain will reduce capacity issues on the Layer-1 Ethereum chain, lowering gas fees.

The Shibarium Twitter account also announced that each Shibarium transaction would result in the burning of SHIB. However, that tweet has since been deleted, but the SHIB burning is still confirmed. The aforementioned Shiba Inu blog post wrote that the Shiba community had frequently requested a SHIB burn mechanism within Shibarium, which has been implemented.

Using this burn mechanism, the circulating supply of SHIB will hopefully be decreased over time, which may positively affect the asset's price.

Shibarium also allows anyone to develop DApps. Developers will be able to enjoy low costs on Shibarium and will also take part in the SHIB burning mechanism previously mentioned. What's more, users can create NFTs using Shibarium, as is currently the case on the Ethereum Layer-1 blockchain.

When Will Shibarium Launch?

At the time of writing, Shibarium is in its public beta testing phase. This beta network has been named PUPPYNET.

The early beta launch of Shibarium took place on 11th March, 2023, but an official release date for the full Shibarium network has not yet been announced.

Will Shibarium Help Shiba Inu?

While Shibarium is in its beta phase at the time of writing, this network may provide some major positive changes for Shiba Inu overall. Time will tell how things develop with this Layer-2 solution, but it certainly looks like Shiba Inu will be able to offer its users a lot more.