Shytoshi Kusama, the pseudonymous lead developer of Shiba Inu (SHIB), recently wrote his learnings over the past year regarding the Shiba Inu ($SHIB) ecosystem, and in particular, Shibarium, a layer 2 blockchain designed at addressing the shortcomings of the $SHIB token’s host chain Ethereum, namely low speed and high transaction cost.
Here is what Binance Academy says about Shiba Inu ($SHIB):
“Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a dog-themed meme cryptocurrency named after a Japanese dog breed. It was created in 2020 by an anonymous developer named Ryoshi, who designed SHIB to be an alternative to Dogecoin (DOGE) on the Ethereum blockchain.
“SHIB is an ERC-20 token with a decentralized exchange called ShibaSwap. The SHIB roadmap and ecosystem also features an NFT art incubator called Shiba Artist Incubator, 10,000 ‘Shiboshi’ NFTs, and an NFT game Shiboshi Game.
“Shiba Inu had an initial circulating supply of 1 quadrillion tokens. Ryoshi locked 50% of the token in Uniswap to create liquidity, and sent the other 50% to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s wallet. However, Vitalik decided to burn 90% of the coins and donate the remaining 10% to charity.“
On 6 July 2022, Kusama published a blog post, in which he had this to say about Shibarium:
“Shibarium is a key component in this uncanny war we find ourselves in as it will allow us to move assets on chain with minor BONE (gas) fees empowering micro transactions… As of now, everything is still on track, and we are moving as fast as we can to complete this core component to our ecosystem. xFUND and SHIB Developers have yet to determine a date for the Public Beta.“
Earlier today (20 February 2023), in a blog post titled “Shibarium Blog: 2022 The Year of Learning”, Kusama explained that his focus has been making Shibarium viable for the wider ecosystem and finding the best team for the job. He thanked community members for their hard work and contribution to making Shib a decentralized unit.
Kusama also discussed the concept of the Breeds, which he initially introduced to create a structure within the decentralized group of Shib volunteers. However, he realized that the team members should be open to their assigned tasks, and he acknowledged the efforts of the Defense Breed in working with companies outside of their original focus. He renamed them the Real team and hoped that they would continue to move Shib forward, allowing the developers to focus on Shibarium.
Kusama touched on his involvement with developing Shiba Eternity, a decentralized game for Shiboshis, and the challenges he faced in completing the project within budget. He praised the work of the game’s developers but acknowledged that the game’s structure may have prevented it from recouping its initial investment. Nevertheless, Kusama remains optimistic about the game’s potential and looks forward to its release.
Kusama also discussed his exploration of integrating Shibarium into real-life projects, such as in the food and fashion industries. He acknowledged the hard work of the Welly team in building a business that serves incredible food and credited them for introducing him to the John Richmond team for a Shib-inspired fashion show. He noted his challenges with bespoke clothing designs but remained hopeful about future opportunities for Shib-inspired fashion.
Finally, Kusama discussed the progress of Shib’s Metaverse project, which will run on Shibarium, and expressed his pride in the team’s exceptional work. He promised to go into more detail about the technical aspects of Shibarium’s development and to release the intake form and Shibarium Beta soon.
