Shiba Inu Launches the Shibarium Layer 2 Blockchain

Shiba Inu launches the Shibarium layer 2 blockchain

The Shiba Inu community celebrates the official launch of the Shibarium mainnet, a significant milestone that has been eagerly awaited by the SHIB Army. Unveiled by lead developer Shytoshi Kusama at the Blockchain Futurist Conference in Canada, Shibarium aims to onboard millions who are committed to the principles of decentralization.

The successful launch of the Layer 2 solution follows a thriving testnet phase, boasting over 21 million user wallets. The event also triggered a massive transfer of billions of SHIB, with data from Etherscan revealing significant withdrawals from exchanges. However, the excitement around the launch has not translated into an immediate price surge for SHIB. According to CoinMarketCap, Shiba Inu's price has declined by over 8% in the past 24 hours.

Shibarium represents a strategic move by Shiba Inu to position SHIB as more than just a popular meme coin. The network will leverage BONE, TREAT, SHIB, and LEASH tokens for applications, potentially driving up their demand and value. 

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BitGo raises $100 million 

According to Bloomberg, BitGo, a crypto custodian, has successfully secured $100 million in funding. This investment puts the company's valuation at $1.75 billion. The fundraising comes after BitGo decided not to proceed with its acquisition of Prime Trust, a competitor in the industry. The troubled state of Prime Trust has led to speculation that it may need to reduce its workforce by as much as 75% due to significant financial and regulatory obstacles it is facing.

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3AC founders hit with a $2.7 million penalty in Dubai 

OPNX, a project initiated by Kyle Davies and Su Zhu, the founders of Three Arrows Capital, has been hit with a penalty of $2.7 million by Dubai's cryptocurrency regulator for alleged violations in the promotion of digital assets. The Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) imposed this fine on May 2nd and it remains unpaid as of now.

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Coinbase gets approval for futures trading to US clients

Coinbase, the leading cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, announced today that it has received regulatory authorization to provide crypto futures trading services to eligible customers within the country.

According to Coinbase Financial Markets Inc., they have been granted approval by the National Futures Association (NFA), a self-regulatory organization mandated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to function as a futures commission merchant (FCM) and grant eligible U.S. customers access to crypto futures on their platforms.

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SwirlLend disappears in a $460K rug pull

It appears that SwirlLend, a lending project that operates on the Ethereum Layer 2 networks Base and Linea, has carried out what seems to be an exit scam, resulting in the loss of around $460,000 in user deposits.

PeckShield, a security firm specializing in on-chain analysis, has reported that the SwirlLend team managed to withdraw approximately $290,000 worth of cryptocurrency from Base and another $170,000 from Linea. These funds were then transferred to Ethereum. As a result of these actions taking place, the total amount of user deposits held by SwirlLend dropped dramatically from $780k down to just $49, according to data provided by DeFiLlama.

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Other breaking news

• Sei launches the Pacific-1 mainnet, with bridging and staking enabled
• Threshold has launched tBTC on Solana
• Arbitrum to unlock $1.2 billion ARB in March 2024
• ZetaChain raises $27 million in equity round
• Linea finalizes its mainnet 

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Bottom Line

In today's Datawallet newsletter, we've covered the much-anticipated launch of Shiba Inu's Shibarium mainnet, BitGo's $100 million funding, regulatory actions in Dubai, Coinbase's futures trading approval, and the unfortunate rug pull by SwirlLend. These stories highlight the diverse and rapidly evolving world of crypto, reflecting both opportunities and risks. Stay tuned for more insights, and keep navigating the crypto landscape with vigilance and informed perspective.