Shiba Inu Network Under Fire After 99.8 % plunge

Shibarium collapses. In ten days, the daily transactions of the Shiba Inu layer 2 blockchain dropped from 4.8 million to less than 10,000, a fall of 99.8 %. This is not a slowdown, but a brutal stop. Launched a year ago as the engine of the SHIB ecosystem, the network is facing a spectacular loss of momentum. In a lethargic crypto market at this end of August, this plunge raises questions about the real adoption of this project, which is nevertheless highly exposed in the media.

A brutal collapse of activity on Shibarium

On August 20, Shibarium, the Shiba Inu ecosystem’s layer 2 solution, was still processing about 4.8 million transactions per day, as institutional investors were taking position again. Ten days later, this figure dropped to 9,590 transactions, a spectacular fall of 99.8 %, according to official Shibariumscan data.

Such a sharp decline is rare, even in a market as volatile as crypto. It immediately attracted the attention of sector observers, in a context of general market gloom.

To better understand the extent of this decline, here are the main indicators : 

• Daily transactions : 9,590 (compared to 4.8 million on August 20) ;
• Rate of decline : -99.8 % in 10 days; 
• The drop seems behavioral in origin (user disengagement).

This slowdown raises questions on several levels. On one hand, it could indicate a temporary disaffection of the Shiba Inu community, in the absence of strong news or incentives. On the other hand, it reveals the fragility of a network still highly dependent on speculative dynamics and mass effects.

If no technical outage or attack is behind this drop, it means the trigger likely lies in users’ widespread wait-and-see attitude. Far from trivial, this signal could announce a deeper reconsideration of Shibarium’s place in the blockchain ecosystem.

Solid foundations, but dynamics to revive

Despite this collapse in daily activity, the network’s fundamentals remain solid according to on-chain data. Indeed, Shibarium displays 1,566,119,160 cumulative transactions, 271,936,819 unique addresses, and 12,811,111 mined blocks.

The project celebrated its second anniversary, having launched in August 2023. This symbolic milestone reminds us that Shibarium’s infrastructure continues to operate, produce blocks, and maintain a user base, even in the absence of intense activity.

At the same time, the Shiba Inu ecosystem is attempting to consolidate its credibility in traditional financial markets. This week, asset manager Valour launched eight new ETPs denominated in Swedish krona on the Spotlight Stock Market of Sweden, including Shiba Inu among the selected assets. This integration marks an attempt to reposition the token in regulated financial products aimed at a European institutional investor audience.

Added to this is a series of alerts from the Shiba Inu team, aimed at strengthening community security. “Coordinated networks of malicious actors” have been identified, according to which investors are targeted by fake links and fraudulent tokens, notably an unofficial version of the LEASH token on Solana. The team reminds users that “any token not listed on the official SHIB site is fake” and urges users never to connect their wallets without prior verification.

This contrast between the network’s technical solidity and the drastic drop in activity reveals a strategic challenge: to revive adoption while protecting users to prevent them from recording losses. Shibarium’s future will depend on its ability to go beyond the hype and offer concrete, sustainable, and secure use cases. The two-year mark is both a milestone and a test. It will take more than a performant infrastructure to regain trust and user engagement in an increasingly demanding crypto market.