• The highly-anticipated Shibarium layer-2 network is having problems with its bridge contract.
• Approximately $1.7 million worth of Ethereum is currently stuck on the bridge contract.
• Shibarium launch was expected to add some impetus to the price of SHIB but that has not happened.

The much-hyped layer-2 network of Shiba Inu, Shibarium, is having significant problems a day after its launch. The network was expected to turn the tables of the SHIB token, which has been under bearish pressure for the last seven days; but that has not been the case. The token has dropped by over 10% since the Shibarium went live.

But as the future of Shiba Inu hangs on tenterhooks, another Shiba-themed meme coin called Shiba Memu (SHMU) is taking the crypto space by storm with its token presale which has hit $2.1 million in a little over a month. Shiba Memu is leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and the hype around meme coins.

What is happening with Shibarium?

According to an analysis of the Shibarium network’s bridge contract, which transfers money from Ethereum to the layer-2 solution, there is currently $1.7 million worth of Ethereum stranded between the two networks.

The locked status of the funds has been confirmed by the blockchain security team Beosin, who has advised people to stop using Shibarium temporarily.

🚨Transactions on #Shibarium are stuck in a pending state.
$1.7M are currently locked on ETH.

Users are advised to temporarily stop using shibarium.https://t.co/io5puAibBc https://t.co/q2SXqtthoO

— Beosin Alert (@BeosinAlert) August 17, 2023

In addition to the locked-up tokens, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT highlighted that $762,000 worth of BONE, a Shibarium governance token, was sent to the bridge contract.

$762k BONE

0x885fcE983b6a01633f764325B8c3c5D31032C995 pic.twitter.com/DCQ7wWDIwq

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) August 16, 2023

According to the information on BlockScout, only 236 transactions had been validated on Shibarium Network almost two days after the network was launched.

Some users have pointed out issues with Shibarium’s remote procedure call (RPC) system, which allows access to a network’s server node to communicate with the blockchain.

The response by Shiba Inu’s developer

Interestingly, the pseudonymous Shiba Inu developer Shytoshi Kusama repudiated reports that what Shibarium was facing was “a bridge issue.” In a newsletter, Kusama said:

“Our technical difficulties are due to the massive amount of traffic we experienced within moments on Shibarium,” they said. “The team is working tirelessly to fix the issue and scale so that we can give the ShibArmy the experience they deserve. All funds are safe.”

A moderator in Shibarium’s Discord also stated that “as a precautionary measure,” admins “have temporarily restricted access to certain channels due to the spread of misinformation and fake websites.”

What Shibarium’s misfortunes mean for Shiba Memu

Well, Shiba Inu stands out as a major rival to Shiba Memu and its mishaps could only be translated to mean an advantage to the new Shiba Memu project, which is already on course to become the most popular meme coin project.

Shiba Memu is a revolutionary token combining AI and the latest technology to create an entirely self-sufficient marketing powerhouse, deviating from the norm of most meme coins which purely depend on community involvement.