Shibarium Transactions Surge 44%, but SHIB Isn't Moving

Shiba Inu layer 2, Shibarium, saw a 44% increase in daily transactions, which rose from 842 on May 18 to 1,260 on May 19.

The recent increase, though, might signal the advent of something bigger, but it isn't yet enough as the broader Shibarium network activity remains locked in a flat trend.

Since April 19, when Shibarium transactions surpassed 7,400, the layer 2 blockchain has failed to return to this level. Shibarium transaction count has stayed largely between 700 and 3,000 since then, with no visible sign of momentum.

BONE fees have remained minimal on the network, with recent transactions being contract calls attracting a fee of 0.00001 BONE.

In the last few months, the Shibarium chain saw a reindexing with explorer statistics falling beneath the actual count. In this light, it is uncertain if the stall in network activity is due to the Shibarium network still adjusting to its prior upgrades, with metrics on the Shibarium explorer yet to return to previous counts, or an actual slowdown in the network activity.

$SHIB isn't moving

Crypto futures activity cooled across the market, with 24-hour volume falling 26.59% to $156 billion. Open interest (OI) held steady around $127 billion, and liquidations declined for a second day to $156 million, down 40%.

A number of crypto assets including $SHIB returned to the green, but futures open interest dropped as well as a mixed altcoin performance, indicating that traders might be reducing risk rather than chasing the rebound.

At the time of writing, $SHIB was barely moving, just up 0.10% in the last 24 hours to $0.000005744, albeit reversing the prior day's drop.

Minutes from the April 27-28 Federal Open Market Committee meeting will be released later on Wednesday. The Fed kept the federal funds rate steady at between 3.5% and 3.75%, but the decision drew the biggest dissension within the FOMC in more than 30 years, with the rate-setting committee split 8-4.