The second biggest meme token in the world, Shiba Inu (SHIB), had a strong start to 2023, with a consistent rising trend within the first few days of the year. However, the asset appears to be moving in the other way today, with a drop that has nearly erased the entirety of its gains acquired during its latest short-lived rally.SHIB to Undergo Layer-2 UpgradeComing soon to the Shiba Inu ecosystem is the Shibarium project, a layer-2 blockchain. The layer-2 blockchain is a scaling mechanism designed to alleviate the slow transaction performance of Shiba Inu’s Ethereum-based host chain.Recently, Shibarium has decided on Bone ShibaSwap (BONE) as its utility token for usage in payment of blockchain transaction fees and other purposes. Additionally, BONE enables users to vote on forthcoming project proposals.The launch of the Shibarium project has not been officially announced, however it is anticipated that it will occur early this year. In December, the developer alias Shytoshi Kusama promised that Shibarium will be released shortly. Also, the anticipated inclusion of additional features, such as the burning of SHIB tokens, may boost the value of Shiba Inu.Whales Accumulate Trillions of SHIBOn-chain data shows that “crypto whales” have been buying up Shiba Inu tokens by the billions. The number of Shiba Inus held by Ethereum’s “whales” has increased significantly. SHIB token is now the most traded token among the top 1000 whales, according to statistics compiled by Whalestats, a blockchain tracker and whale surveying tool.These whales have been using Shiba Inu as their preferred smart contract, causing it to become the most used among this group. In addition, Whale Alert reported that a massive transfer of Shiba Inu tokens, over 3.37 trillion, took place from one unknown wallet to another. The sending wallet is now empty, while the receiving wallet holds the full amount of transferred tokens. At the time of this report, Shiba Inu was being traded at a value of $0.00000843.BottomlineShiba Inu is a meme-based cryptocurrency, named after the popular Shiba Inu dog breed and featuring it as its mascot. It is also a deflationary coin, with a limited supply of approximately 1 quadrillion tokens. As more tokens are bought and removed from circulation, the value of the remaining tokens is expected to increase. This scarcity can be appealing to investors seeking a potentially high return on their investment. The coin’s strong presence on social media platforms, such as Twitter and Reddit, has helped to generate buzz and hype around it. It is impossible to predict the future of any cryptocurrency, but it is clear that SHIB has gained the attention of ETH whales and many other investors.
