Shiba Inu Developers Reveal First Look at 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, that want to solve the problems of scalability, speed and cost.

A beta testnet, or blockchain that mimics real-world functions, 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 scaling and data bottlenecks. These aggregate multiple off-chain transactions into a single layer 1 transaction, helping to reduce data load and fees.

In an introductory post on Sunday, Shiba Inu developers said that Shibarium will 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 low-cost 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 strengthen the fundamentals of Shiba Inu’s three ecosystem tokens: shiba inu (SHIB), leash (LEASH) and bone (BONE), which together have over $5 billion in market cap.

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

Shibarium’s validators will unlock BONE to run the Heimdall validator, software that provides a record 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 is limited to 100 places. Validators are also required to stake a minimum of 10,000 BONE and all rewards will be paid out in BONE. “The introduction of these validators will be done taking into account experience, trust, knowledge and to ensure 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 current fees on the Ethereum network,” they added.

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

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