$SHIB: As Layer 2 Blockchain Shibarium Gets Ready for Beta Launch, Developers Explain Key Concepts

by Arthur · January 16, 2023

On Sunday (January 15, 2023), the Shiba Inu ($SHIB) team explained the basic concepts of Shibarium – a layer two blockchain designed to address the shortcomings of the $SHIB token’s host chain Ethereum, namely slow speed and high transaction costs – which is expected to have its beta launch soon.

Here’s what Binance Academy says about Shiba Inu ($SHIB):

“Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a dog-themed meme cryptocurrency named after a Japanese dog breed. It was created in 2020 by an anonymous developer named Ryoshi, who designed SHIB to be an alternative to Dogecoin (DOGE) on the Ethereum blockchain.

“SHIB is an ERC-20 token with a decentralized exchange called ShibaSwap. SHIB’s roadmap and ecosystem also features an NFT art incubator called Shiba Artist Incubator, 10,000 ‘Shiboshi’ NFTs and an NFT game Shiboshi Game.

“Shiba Inu had an initial circulating supply of 1 quadrillion tokens. Ryoshi locked 50% of the token in Uniswap to create liquidity, and sent the other 50% to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s wallet. However, Vitalik decided to burn 90% of the coins and donate the remaining 10% to charity.“

In a blog post published on January 15, 2023, the Shibarium team explained that Shibarium’s mission is twofold: to provide a resource for the community to construct and expand the project on their own terms, and to invite new crypto users and educate them about the development process of a foundational project.

For the developers, the question of when to begin the gradual rollout is secondary to the importance they place on building Shibarium correctly and presenting it responsibly. They also stress the importance of being patient, as some may mistake Shibarium for a tool to artificially increase the price of $SHIB and $BONE tokens.

Shibarium’s Layer 2 blockchain is built on top of the Ethereum blockchain. It is intended to work in tandem with the existing blockchain network, enabling off-chain processing of transactions that is faster, cheaper and more private while relying on the security of the Ethereum blockchain.

They went on to say:

“This blockchain (L2) runs on top of the Ethereum blockchain, which the SHIB ecosystem tokens (SHIB, LEASH & BONE) use. A Layer 2 blockchain provides the benefits of scalability, faster transaction times, lower fees and an expanded development framework…

“So how do we remove the barrier to entry for the small transactions that happen in daily life? In L2 blockchains like Shibarium, transactions happen “off-chain”, meaning that transactions happen outside the Layer 1 (Ethereum) blockchain, and are communicated back. Letting the L2 blockchain do most of the processing work reduces bandwidth resulting in lower costs (gas fees) and processing time for the end users…

“As previously announced, $LEG is the native token chosen to pay for gas transactions and reward validators and delegators within the Shibarium protocol. Since its birth in July 2021, its main function has been related to governance, but now also the much-anticipated Shibarium launch… With a total supply of 250 million, of which 20 million have been reserved to reward validators and delegators in the coming years, and voted in by the Shiba community through our DAO process…

“In Shibarium, validators are instrumental members of the network that contribute to operational security by unlocking a certain number of $BONE tokens and serving Heimdall Validator and Bor block producer nodes…

“Heimdall Validator is an open source validation software that can be used to participate in various blockchain networks. It is built using the Tendermint consensus engine, which allows it to process and validate transactions quickly and securely. It is designed to be easy to use, with a simple and intuitive user interface that allows users to monitor the status of the validator, delegate tokens and more. Heimdall Validator allows you to process and validate transactions quickly and securely, while analyzing and reinforcing the integrity…

“Bor is the EVM compatible layer responsible for block production. Bor offers EVM compatibility to leverage the developer functionality of Ethereum. The Bor team is responsible for all peer-to-peer interactions on Shibarium. The committee of block producers is assembled and shuffled periodically from the list of validators.“

On January 11, 2023, the Shibarium team confirmed that Shibarium will require using $BONE to pay for transaction/gas fees and will burn $SHIB with each transaction (thereby making $SHIB more scarce, and potentially increasing its value):