This week marked a significant milestone as Shiba Inu unveiled the Shibarium mainnet, a culmination of meticulous testing spanning months. The launch of this innovative Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution emerges after a rigorous journey, one that drew the engagement of millions of users and led to the inception of an impressive 21 million wallets.
Nascent Launch of Shibarium Encounters Problem
In the wake of its recent launch, Shibarium, the layer-2 scaling innovation underpinning Shiba Inu's (SHIB) ecosystem, has captivated the attention of both enthusiasts and experts alike. The project's lead developer Shytoshi Kusama sheds light on an intriguing development: an unprecedented surge of users and transactions flooding the platform. Nevertheless, this surge has not been without its challenges.
Within a recent exposition in the form of a blog post, he delved into the unfolding scenario with insightful clarity. Shytoshi elucidated that the prevailing challenges are not intrinsically woven into the fabric of Shibarium, the innovative layer-2 solution. Rather, they are a product of the unparalleled deluge of users and transactions that fortuitously converged upon the platform's launch.
https://t.co/mSnE6b9hMD
— Shytoshi Kusama™ (@ShytoshiKusama) August 17, 2023
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He went on to offer a compelling window into the magnitude of traffic that coursed through the veins of Shibarium. As corroborated by meticulously gathered analytics from Alchemy, the data unveils a staggering surge: in a mere half-hour timeframe, Shibarium embraced an astonishing influx of over 160 million compute units. This pace aligns seamlessly with the liveliest layer-2 blockchains currently navigating the ecosystem.
Shytoshi explained that, “On our enterprise plan with Alchemy, we are allotted 400 Million compute units a MONTH. At launch, we experienced 160+ Million compute units in approximately 30 minutes. If we continue at that rate, we are expected to reach billions of compute units daily, on par with the most active layer-2 blockchains. Although we expected a busy moment, we never expected this much traffic instantly.”
As recorded by the Shibarium block explorer, Shibarium experienced an abrupt cessation in block production. This pause was eventually lifted a few hours ago, but regrettably, the resurgence in block production was fleeting, met once more with another halt. This recurrent stop-and-start narrative, mirroring the prior occurrences during the Shibarium testnet's post-launch phase, has sparked a cascade of inquiries within the cryptocurrency community.
In the span of 24 hours odd, the value of Shiba Inu tokens has undergone an approximate 8% descent, marking a response to the prevailing reports that have reverberated across the landscape. These reports stem from the heels of the eagerly awaited launch of the Shibarium network, whose early hours encountered issues within its bridging infrastructure, sending ripples through the ecosystem.
At the time of writing, the price of SHIB is $0.00000809.
Source: TradingView
Deep-diving into blockchain data as unveiled by Shibariumscan, a noteworthy tale emerges: transactions on the network came to a standstill as mentioned earlier, persisting for a span of no less than five hours. Notable endeavours included a collective attempt to transfer an impressive sum of 954 Ethereum, carrying a valuation in the realm of $1.7 million, along with an additional $750,000 in value represented by BONE, the governance token intertwined with Shibarium.
Evidenced by an alleged screenshot, a curious technical quagmire unfurled for a Shibarium user attempting to interface with the block scanner, rendering them unable to access their bridged balance through the vehicle of RPC (Remote Procedure Call). This entanglement not only raises questions about the underpinning functionality but also spotlights a crucial juncture: the ability to seamlessly retrieve and interact with the information linked to transferred tokens within the Shibarium network.
Bridges, aptly recognised as keystones within the cryptocurrency realm, act as the connective threads stitching disparate networks together, streamlining the fluid movement of tokens.
Beosin had advocated for a temporary pause in the utilisation of Shibarium. The rationale echoes with urgency, as a substantial sum of $1.7 million in ETH languishes within the confines of a bridging mechanism.
Wu Blockchain also echoed Beosin’s rationale.
The Community Largely Took a Defensive Stance Against “Haters”
After Shytoshi’s reassuring blogpost, the crypto community took to X to stand against naysayers, expressing that it was all just fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD).
Many were quick to show support for the team’s hard work, showing the unity of the SHIB army.
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