The number of Shiba Inu tokens held by large investors, or “whales,” dropped significantly on March 11, the day of the eagerly awaited public beta launch of Shibarium, also known as PuppyNet.

Finally, after much anticipation, Shiba Inu’s lead developer Shytoshi Kusama announced that the beta version of Shibarium is now available to the public. Kusama asserted that a massive, global, and decentralized community needed a decentralized Layer 2 network.

Shibarium Early Beta Goes Live

SHIBARIUM EARLY BETA TEST IS LIVE!

Today, more than ever, we see the need for a truly decentralized L2 network that powers the projects of a large, global, decentralized community.

Read more:https://t.co/131BxiS4BS

— Shibarium Network (@ShibariumNet) March 11, 2023

Some 251 trillion SHIB, excluding the dead address required for burning, are currently held by the biggest holders of the meme coin. More than a quarter of the first batch of offering and almost half of the total supply (not counting the burn address) are now held by just 14 people, who collectively possess the abovementioned figure.

40 Wallets Hold 122 Trillion Shiba Inu Tokens

Yet it’s not quite so easy when the same amount has also filled the purses of slightly smaller but nonetheless significant investors. Based on data by IntoTheBlock, there are currently 40 addresses holding 12.35%, or nearly 122 trillion SHIB, in this group.

Notably, these investors had 123.16 trillion SHIB in their holdings as of the end of the previous week before selling off some of their holdings and buying back 10 trillion Shiba Inu tokens on March 11.

To facilitate the generation and trading of digital assets in a safe and open environment, the Shibarium blockchain was developed. It’s secondary purpose is to lay the groundwork for creating decentralized software (dapps).

Hehehe #NOWNodes x #Shibarium Roadmap – Step 1 is activated

We will open pre-release form so you can sign for an early access to Shibarium Mainnet nodes (as soon as the project is launched by SHIB) https://t.co/lVyMqK6Geh

— NOWNodes (@NOWNodes) March 11, 2023

The first step of NOWNodes’ Shibarium Roadmap was also announced. On Twitter, the developer announced a pre-release form for Shibarium Mainnet node access.

Lesser Whales Scooping SHIB?

Meanwhile, several of the SHIB’s biggest backers (whales) have since abandoned the token in favor of alternative cryptocurrencies.

Data shows that SHIB whale holdings have decreased dramatically since November last year, suggesting that some of the highest holders of the token have lost faith in its growth plans.

At the time of writing, SHIB was trading at $0.00001008, losing nearly 10% of its value. The meme coin shed 0.2% in the last 24 hours, data from crypto market tracker Coingecko shows.

In the last week of February 2023, Kusama unveiled the Join Shibarium portal, the community’s means of entry. The user interface of the beta version allows users to view data on the network, validators, and staking.

Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Impacted SHIB Price

Nonetheless, SHIB price has not changed appreciably as a result of the beta announcement. The USDC depegging that followed the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank and shook global financial markets is likely one of the culprits.

Meanwhile, the future value of Shiba Inu has not yet been calculated. The direction of the market may be determined by whether or not the price level is held or whether it breaks down.

A recovery might send the price of SHIB back up to $0.0000130. Yet, if the price doesn’t recover, it might fall to $0.0000850.

-Featured image from Hitechies