Shiba Inu Developers Reveal First Look of Layer 2 Blockchain Shibarium

Upcoming layer 2 network Shibarium will soon join the ever-growing fray of Ethereum-based blockchains, such as Arbitrum and Optimism, looking to solve the problems of scalability, speed and expense.

A beta testnet, or a blockchain that mimics real-world functioning, is expected to launch in the coming weeks.

Layer 2 refers to a set of off-chain solutions (separate blockchains) built on top of layer 1s that reduce bottlenecks with scaling and data. These bundle multiple off-chain transactions into a single layer 1 transaction, which helps reduce the data load and fees.

In an introductory post on Sunday, Shiba Inu developers said Shibarium would have a focus on metaverse and gaming applications especially as the NFT sector is expected to heat up in the coming years, apart from Shibarium’s use as a cheap settlement for decentralized applications (dapps) built on the network.

The launch could contribute to strong fundamentals for shiba inu, formed in the previous bull market as a Shiba inu-themed meme coin that has since tried to position itself as a serious project with its own blockchain network and dApp ecosystem.

The move could further bolster the fundamentals of Shiba Inu’s three ecosystem tokens: shiba inu (SHIB), leash (LEASH) and bone (BONE), which together command over $5 billion in market capitalization.

Each transaction on Shibarium will burn a certain amount of SHIB tokens, but the specific amount has not been decided yet. Burns refer to the permanent deletion of tokens from the total supply.

How validators work

Shibarium’s validators will lock up BONE to run the Heimdall validator, software that provides an overview of transactions, and Bor block producer nodes, a program that allows the integration of Ethereum into other networks. Validators are entities that maintain and approve transactions on any blockchain network.

The number of validators are limited to 100 slots. Validators are also required to stake a minimum of 10,000 BONE and all rewards will be paid in BONE. “The onboarding of these Validators will be done taking into account the experience, trust, knowledge and ensuring that these validators are committed to the health and integrity of Shibarium,” developers said.

“The development team is currently evaluating potential gas fee rates for the blockchain network. The network's gas fees are expected to be lower than the current fees on the Ethereum mainnet,” they added.

Meanwhile, a forthcoming TREAT token will be launched to incentivize liquidity pools on ShibaSwap, a decentralized exchange that uses SHIB, and provide users with low network fees and better rewards strategies, developers said in the post.

SHIB, LEASH and BONE were nominally changed in the past 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows.