Shiba Inu team begins special countdown, is Shibarium ready for launch?

Shiba Inu, the second-largest meme coin by market capitalization, has teased followers with a mystery countdown on its Twitter handle. The team posted a link to a website that shows a countdown timer against a Shiba Inu-themed backdrop. Experts on crypto Twitter believe this could symbolize the clock ticking down before the upcoming launch of layer-2 scaling solution Shibarium. 

Also read: Here’s why Shibarium launch could trigger a 100% Santa rally in Shiba Inu price

Shiba Inu starts special countdown, is Shibarium ready for launch? 

Shiba Inu, a Dogecoin competitor and meme coin with $5 billion market capitalization has several developmental updates in the pipeline for the end of 2022 and 2023. The official Twitter account teased followers with an enigmatic countdown. Via a link from the tweet it takes visitors through to a website that shows a countdown timer and in the background a photo of a dog staring outside a window.

Shiba Inu special countdown

The tweet has puzzled the SHIB community and the meme coin’s fans are speculating it could be a teaser prior to the launch of the layer-2 scaling solution Shibarium. Developers have posted teasers for similar events in the past, when revealing partnerships or new hires in metaverse projects, for example. 

SHIB ecosystem developers started working on the scaling project in April 2022. The Dogecoin-killer currently operates on the underlying Ethereum blockchain. While the ETH network is considered secure and scalable, the transaction fees continue to remain high. 

Following Ethereum’s successful migration from the proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) through the Merge scalability issues reared their head on the second-largest altcoin’s blockchain network. Projects like Shiba Inu that are built on the Ethereum blockchain need higher scalability and this is where Shibarium comes in. Layer-2 is a secondary chain built on top of a base blockchain. 

Shibarium launch could trigger a massive rally in SHIB

Shibarium’s goal is to alleviate network congestion on the base chain, which in its case is the Ethereum network. The layer-2 solution will work alongside the existing Ethereum base chain to process transactions and share the workload. 

The SHIB community, popularly known as the SHIB Army, has championed the cause of a layer-2 scaling solution for a long time now. Shibarium’s launch will therefore boost the utility of SHIB and trigger a rally in the Dogecoin-killer. 

Shiba Inu price is down – nearly 90% away from its all-time high of $0.00008616,but the launch of SHIB’s scaling solution could give it a welcome boost and trigger a massive rally in the meme coin. 

Shiba Inu price prepares for lift off, 95% rally on the horizon

Shiba Inu price is currently in a multi-month downtrend that started in Q4 2021. 

As seen in the chart below, the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) in orange, has been acting as resistance, preventing attempts by Shiba Inu price to break above. 

SHIB/USDT price chart 

SHIB price has kept within a descending channel all year. It is currently pressing up against the top of the channel, however, trying to break out again. A close above the upper channel line could signal a breakout and the possible start of a new uptrend. 

The Relative Strength Index indicator in the bottom pane, which measures momentum, is converging with price – note, for example, how low the RSI was when price bottomed in June 2022, but then how its failure to fall as low as price is at the moment. This indicates possible underlying strength and is a bullish sign.

Shibarium’s launch could act as a bullish trigger for SHIB price, leading to a breakout from the descending channel. SHIB price has the potential for a 95% rally from $0.00000854 to $0.00008860. 

Trader’s should act with caution, however, as Shiba Inu price is still technically in a downtrend, suggesting a bias to continue that trend lower. A break and close above the channel would be the first sign of a reversal, however, for more confirmation a break above the prior lower high in August 2022, situated at about $0.00001800, would provide a cleaner reversal signal.  

Analyst believes the teaser is for a website redesign or Wiki launch

@art_xbt, a crypto analyst believes that the tweet could be a tease for a new website redesign or new Wiki launch. Previously, developers of Dogecoin’s competitor SHIB have deployed similar tactics while delaying the launch of the layer-2 scaling solution. 

If that is the case, the teaser could be a “sell the news” event with a bearish impact on SHIB and BONE price. After completing their research, the analyst tweeted:

The teaser looked bigger than anticipated, and several crypto traders were long SHIB anticipating Shibarium launch. The technical expert pointed out that launching into a long position could result in losses if the teaser amounts to a website redesign or a small developmental update.