Shibarium Slowdown: What Low Activity on the Shiba Inu 's L2 Means for BONE and SHIB

After years of anticipation, Shiba Inu's Second-Layer Solutions (L2), Shibarium, was launched on 16/08/2023. Although designed to provide speed, scalability, and reduce costs for SHIB holders, network data shows that Shibarium's daily activity has significantly lagged behind competing L2 networks like Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism.

This article examines how Shibarium has performed this year and what its slow growth means for the broader Shiba Inu ecosystem, particularly for BONE, the token powering Shibarium, and SHIB.

Shibarium User Participation Declines After Meme Market Price Surge

According to Shibariumscan, Shiba Inu's L2 network had an unimpressive start this year. In the first quarter of 2025, the number of daily active addresses on the network was relatively low, indicating minimal user participation.

It wasn't until April that activity on Shibarium began to increase. This network usage surge was driven by the explosion of meme coin activity in the broader cryptocurrency market.

To clarify, from 10/04 to 10/05, the meme coin market capitalization increased by 56% as demand for these assets skyrocketed.

Anticipating this wave, Shibarium saw increased activity, peaking at over 21,000 daily active addresses on 12/05, the highest since YTD. However, this momentum was short-lived.

As the meme coin market fever began to cool in late May, Shibarium user activity also declined. By 05/06, the number of daily active addresses had dropped to around 9,000—a decrease of over 55% in just three weeks.

Why Shiba Inu's Layer-2 Network Is Falling Behind Other L2s

The user activity model on Shibarium reveals a lack of utility or sustainable use cases to retain users beyond speculative trading.

In an exclusive interview with BeInCrypto, Dominick John, an analyst at Kronos Research, noted that while Shibarium experiences "community-driven activity bursts," it still lags behind other Layer-2 networks like Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism.

"Those networks benefit from robust ecosystems and DeFi integration capabilities beyond meme coin hype. For Shibarium to stand out, it must develop and nurture a unique DeFi ecosystem that provides long-term value," John explained.

According to John, Shibarium's slow growth "reflects specific project obstacles, limited dApp adoption, ecosystem fragmentation, and fierce L2 competition rather than meme token fatigue."

On-chain data from defillama confirms this. Currently, Shibarium hosts only 18 decentralized finance (DeFi) projects—a stark contrast to established Layer-2 networks like Base and Arbitrum, which support 549 and 741 projects respectively.

"If Shibarium does not expand, it may slow down the development of the broader Shiba Inu ecosystem, especially in terms of user attraction and network effects. However, it is important to remember that blockchain and DeFi projects face many challenges as they develop, and Shibarium's trajectory is likely to continue evolving as the team adapts to feedback and market demands."