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In recent news about Shiba Inu, we learn that we are closing in on the release date of Shibarium, a layer-2 scaling solution for Shiba Inu. In this article, we uncover the tech beneath the hype and tell you everything you need to know about this meme coin advancement.
Shiba Inu, the second most popular meme coin on the planet, has come a long way; it has progressed from a joke to a store of value, to now developing a layer-2 scaling solution to solve its Ethereum woes.
Shiba Inu has had a journey that will leave Wall Street and the rest of the traditional finance world utterly confused. It has a market cap that now rivals many on the Fortune 500 and a growing community that wants to HODL it to the moon.
In recent news about Shiba Inu, we learn that we are closing in on the release date of Shibarium, a layer-2 scaling solution for Shiba Inu. In this article, we uncover the tech beneath the hype and tell you everything you need to know about this meme coin advancement.
What is Shibarium?
To understand what Shibarium is, we need to understand what a layer-2 scaling solution is. According to Vitalik Buterin’s blockchain trilemma, scalability, decentralisation and security cannot thrive simultaneously. One has to be compromised to achieve the other two.
Take Ethereum for instance. It is decentralised and secure but lags behind in scalability. This is why, every time traffic peaks, the network slows down and becomes expensive to transact. Shiba Inu doesn’t have a blockchain of its own, so it works on the Ethereum blockchain. Therefore, it shares the same woes.
A layer-2 solution allows for scalability without hindering the other two aspects of the trilemma. Think of it as a flyover over a traffic-filled road. It reduces the time consumed and the amount of gas on transactions, but most importantly, it allows for more throughput (traffic). Shibarium aims to be that bridge, spanning the gaps in the Ethereum network.
And while the developers at Shiba Inu have been tight-lipped regarding the tech under the Shibarium hood, we are sure it will strive to meet the following objectives:
1. Lower Gas Fee
When Shiba Inu launched its NFT collection, the gas fees on transactions often crossed $800. In this case, even if the NFT was free, you’d still need to spend about $800 to get it. This was a big hiccup that needed solving. Shibarium is going to bring the gas fees down to mere cents or even zero.
2. Increased Throughput
Blockchains have high gas fees because they are limited by the number of transactions, they can process in a second. Shibarium will increase that number manifold and bring down the gas fees.
Ethereum can currently process only 13 transactions per second (TPS). The highest throughput on an Ethereum layer-2 solution today is with Polygon, which can process 1,000 TPS with a theoretical limit of 7,200 TPS.
3. Metaverse and Gaming
Shibarium will be the platform where future projects of the Shiba Inu network will be launched. These projects include their metaverse and P2P gaming platforms. It has already amassed a ton of interest in the community, and announcements will be soon made after the launch of Shibarium.
What else do you need to know?
Regarding the release date, there hasn’t been any concrete information from Shiba Inu devs, and the meme coin’s legal team has shot down rumours of a Q3 release date. As of now, the only confirmation we have is that a testnet was supposed to go live in August and that lead developer Shytoshi Kusama tweeted Shibarium would be launched “soon.”
Also, the decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) that runs Shiba Inu has voted on some executive decisions for the Shibarium platform. First, the platform’s gas fees will not be paid using Shiba Inu, but an entirely new token known as $TREAT.
The rationale is to provide a democratic platform launch instead of having many whales already in the waters. Second, Shibarium will continue functioning on the Ethereum blockchain instead of switching to its own anytime soon.
Conclusion
Many expect the price of Shiba Inu to the moon once its layer-2 solution is live. However, crypto markets are highly volatile and difficult to predict. Therefore, while it is good to be excited, we encourage you to learn more about the technology and do your independent research before you put your hard earned money into any project, Shiba Inu included.
