As the crypto market kicks off the new year with fireworks of prosperity and growth, one major player, Shiba Inu (SHIB), finds itself at the center of attention. The ever-volatile market has witnessed Bitcoin (BTC) soaring to local highs of $45,880, signaling a promising start to 2024. Crypto enthusiasts are reveling in the increasing market volumes and a surge in the total value locked in blockchains.
However, amid this festival of life, an unexpected drama is unfolding within the Shiba Inu ecosystem, specifically within its layer-2 solution, Shibarium. The latest data from Shibariumscan reveals a concerning drop in network activity, with the daily number of transactions plummeting to 4.91 million, the lowest in over a month.
This downward trend commenced on Dec. 29, witnessing a 23% decline over the subsequent two days. The new year brought no respite as Shibarium's key metric continued its descent, recording a further 15.1% drop since the beginning of 2024. The sheer numerical scale of these declines, involving millions of transactions, is sparking apprehension among the Shiba Inu community.
Critical period for Shiba Inu
While Shibarium has experienced sharp drops in transaction turnover in the past, the current plunge is unprecedented in both its magnitude and rapidity. And do not forget that this year is poised to set the stage for significant changes in the coming year, as reported by U.Today.
The looming questions surrounding how this downturn will impact the project team's plans, sentiment within the Shiba Inu community and the fate of key tokens like SHIB and BONE make January 2024 a critical period for popular cryptocurrency project.
Alex Dovbnya
Arman Shirinyan
