The Shibarium bridge for Shiba Inu (SHIB), which enables interactions between the blockchain and other networks, is undergoing a security upgrade.
This is according to an update by Kaal Dhairya, SHIB developer, who shared it on X. He explained that the Shibarium bridge enhancement will help protect users’ assets and the platform's integrity.
Shibarium in temporary downtime for maintenance
This upgrade suggests a deliberate effort by the core developers to address and fix potential vulnerabilities on the network that pose threats.
While the upgrade is ongoing, the Shibarium bridge will be in "temporary maintenance mode." As such, users cannot transfer assets or conduct any activity on it.
🚨 Important Update: The Shibarium bridge is currently undergoing a critical security upgrade and enter temporary maintenance mode. During this time, the bridge will be temporarily down, but rest assured—your funds are safe (SAFU). Burns will pause temporarily, but the underlying…
— Kaal (@kaaldhairya) November 29, 2024
Dhairya, however, assured that the network's status should not cause users anxiety. He assured them that their funds remained secure despite the downtime.
"During this time, the bridge will be temporarily down, but rest assured—your funds are safe (SAFU)," he wrote.
Meanwhile, during the maintenance period, the Shibarium burn mechanism will also pause. Notably, burn amounts are still getting tracked and will resume as soon as the bridge becomes operational. It implies that SHIB tokens cannot enter dead wallets during the upgrade.
Shibarium’s increased utility and community growth
Although Dhairya provided no details as to the nature of the security upgrade or what prompted it, it is happening following the growing utility of the platform.
As per an earlier U.Today report, there has been sustained adoption, which has led to an increase in the number of Shibarium wallet addresses.
At the start of the month, Shibarium stood only a few wallet addresses away from the 1.9 million milestone. The figures have since crossed the target and now stand at 1,993,263 wallet addresses, 6,737 away from hitting 2 million. This is a clear sign of the increased utility and adoption of Shibarium.
As of this writing, the downtime has not significantly impacted the market price of Shiba Inu. Data shows SHIB is changing hands at $0.00002742, a 5.18% increase in the last 24 hours. Market volume has also soared by 107.03% to $1.56 billion.
