Shiba Inu Shibarium Layer-2 Bridge Problems Hamper Launch

The launch of the Shiba Inu Shibarium Ethereum layer-2 blockchain has not been a smooth one. The much-hyped SHIB scaling solution has run into serious problems on its first day on mainnet. 

On Aug. 16 the Shiba Inu Shibarium chain launched to mainnet, but a few hours later, major issues started to arise. 

Shibarium Bridge Barriers 

The Dogecoin doppelganger has launched a layer-2 chain to enable SHIB-powered DeFi and Web3 gaming.

However, it became apparent very quickly that things were not going to plan. Shytoshi Kusama, the Shiba Inu community lead, posted that a large chunk of Ethereum was stuck in the bridge contract.

Blockchain security firm PeckShied confirmed the issue on Aug. 17. It revealed that 956 ETH worth around $1.7 million was stuck on the Shibarium bridge.

On-chain sleuth ‘ZachXBT’ added that $762,000 worth of Bone ShibaSwap (BONE) tokens were also stuck.  

Memecoin analyst ‘Dzen’ said something was wrong with the RPC (remote procedure call) system. 

“Also it seems like the RPC is stuck at block 190015, and blockchain is stuck at block 190203 on the block scanner, that was 30 min ago.” 

Aside from these snippets, there were few details regarding the issues at the time of writing. 

Shibarium and SHIB Price Outlook 

Shibarium is part of a broader plan to establish Shiba Inu as a serious blockchain project beyond just another memecoin. The new network utilizes BONE, TREAT, SHIB, and LEASH tokens for its applications and incentives.

However, Shibarium is entering a crowded layer-2 ecosystem that is dominated by just a couple of major players. 

Shiba Inu prices have dropped 7% on the day in a fall greater than the broader crypto market retreat. SHIB was trading at $0.0000093 at the time of writing. 

Furthermore, the memecoin had gained 13% over the past two weeks in the lead-up to the Shibarium launch. 

BONE prices have already tanked 16% on the day in a fall to $1.33. The ShibaSwap token hit an all-time high in July 2021 after reaching $15.50 but has crashed 91.4% since then.