Dubai just gave Ripple’s new stablecoin a big win. The city’s financial regulator, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), has approved RLUSD as a recognised crypto token for use inside the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) — a move that will help Dubai’s push to position itself as a global hotspot for digital finance.
While regulators in the US and Europe are still tightening their grip on crypto, the UAE is moving in the opposite direction — welcoming new players and clearing a path for blockchain-powered financial services. Ripple’s RLUSD is the latest to benefit from this approach.
“This isn’t just about another stablecoin getting approved. It’s a sign of where the market’s heading — and Dubai wants to be at the centre of it. We built RLUSD for transparency and reliability, and this is an important step for our expansion in the region,” said Jack McDonald, Ripple’s Senior Vice President of Stablecoins.
Stablecoin use in the UAE has jumped 55% over the past year, as businesses look for faster, cheaper ways to move money. With over 7,000 firms now active in the DIFC, Ripple’s approval opens new doors for both local and international financial services.
XRP Price Gains 2%
XRP price has gained 2% in the last 24 hours and is trading at $2.20 at the time of writing. After hitting levels below $2.15, the token is showing some bullish strength. XRP should first reclaim the $2.23 mark to confirm a bullish reversal. Furthermore, catalysts like the recent RLUSD approval are expected to push the prices higher.
However, XRP has been trading between $2 and $2.50 in the last two months. It remains to be seen if June will bring back the bullish rally.
Following years of anticipation, Shiba Inu’s Layer-2 (L2) solution Shibarium launched on August 16, 2023. Despite being designed to bring speed, scalability, and reduced costs to SHIB holders, network data shows that Shibarium’s daily activity has significantly lagged behind competing L2 networks like Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism.
This piece looks at how Shibarium has performed this year and what its slow growth means for the wider Shiba Inu ecosystem, especially for BONE, the token that powers Shibarium, and SHIB itself.
Shibarium’s User Engagement Falters After Meme Market Rally
According to Shibariumscan, Shiba Inu’s L2 network had an unimpressive start to the year. In the first quarter of 2025, daily active addresses on the network were relatively low, showing little user engagement.
It was not until April that activity began to pick up on Shibarium. This spike in network usage was driven by the surge in meme coin activity across the broader crypto market.
For context, between April 10 and May 10, the meme coin market capitalization rose 56% as demand for these assets rocketed.
Riding that wave, Shibarium saw a surge in activity, peaking at over 21,000 daily active addresses on May 12, its year-to-date high. However, this momentum did not last.
As the meme coin market mania began to fade in late May, user activity on Shibarium also declined. By June 5, the number of daily active addresses had fallen to around 9,000—a drop of more than 55% in just three weeks.
Shibarium Daily Active Accounts. Source: Shibariumscan
Why Shiba Inu’s Layer-2 Network Is Falling Behind Other L2s
This pattern of user activity on Shibarium suggests a lack of sustained utility or use cases that keep users engaged beyond speculative trading.
In an exclusive interview with BeInCrypto, Dominick John, an analyst at Kronos Research, noted that while Shibarium experiences “bursts of community-driven activity,” it still lags behind other Layer-2 networks like Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism.
“Those networks benefit from robust ecosystems and composability in DEFI beyond the memecoin hype. For Shibarium to stand out, it must evolve and cultivate a unique DeFi ecosystem that delivers long-term value,” John explained.
According to John, Shibarium’s muted growth “reflects project-specific hurdles, limited dApp adoption, ecosystem fragmentation, and fierce L2 competition more than meme-token fatigue.”
On-chain data from DefiLlama confirms this narrative. Currently, Shibarium hosts just 18 decentralized finance (DeFi) projects— a stark contrast to more established Layer-2s like Base and Arbitrum, which support 549 and 741 projects, respectively.
Lynn C., SONEX’s CMO, echoes the same sentiment. Lynn acknowledges that meme-token fatigue may be partially responsible for Shibarium’s slow adoption, but emphasizes that much of the challenge lies in project-specific scaling strategies.
“On one hand, there is certainly meme-token fatigue in the market as users look for more utility-driven projects. On the other hand, Shibarium’s growth challenges may be specific to how the network is structured and its approach to scaling. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and different projects take different paths toward growth,” she said.
Despite its challenges, Shibarium has introduced utility benefits to the Shiba Inu ecosystem. John noted, “Shibarium has strengthened the Shiba Inu ecosystem by enabling cheaper transactions, supporting SHIB burns, and giving BONE real utility.”
For Lynn, the L2 “has added an important component to the Shiba Inu ecosystem by offering a Layer-2 network that promises to scale transactions and reduce costs.”
BONE Token Struggles Amid Shibarium’s Slow Adoption
BONE serves as the primary gas token, facilitating transactions and enabling users to interact on Shibarium. With fewer transactions taking place on the L2, the practical need for BONE as gas has diminished. This lack of on-chain utility has impacted the token’s market performance, falling 38% YTD.
John echoed this concern, stating that, “from a market-making perspective, token utility needs to translate into recurring on-chain demand and transactional velocity. At this stage, BONE demonstrates some early use cases, but it has yet to establish consistent capital retention across the ecosystem.”
On the other hand, Lynn holds a more cautiously optimistic view of BONE. In her words:
“BONE has certainly played a role within the Shiba Inu ecosystem, but like many tokens, it’s still working on building its utility beyond speculative trading. It’s common for newer tokens to find their footing as they grow and develop more use cases. The demand for tokens like BONE will evolve as the ecosystem matures and as more opportunities for real utility emerge.”
For the SHIB meme coin, Shibarium’s lackluster performance also has its impacts.
“If Shibarium fails to scale meaningfully, SHIB holders face several risks: reduced utility due to low transaction volume and limited dApp adoption, weaker SHIB burn rates, and stagnating token value,” John added.
Lynn, on the other hand, struck a slightly more optimistic tone. According to her:
“If Shibarium doesn’t scale, it could slow down the momentum of the broader Shiba Inu ecosystem, especially in terms of user adoption and network effects. However, it’s important to remember that blockchain and DeFi projects face various challenges as they grow, and Shibarium’s trajectory will likely continue to evolve as the team adapts to feedback and market needs.”
The push for Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization on the Solana blockchain is growing as Ondo Finance has expanded to the network. As announced on X, the institutional-grade RWA outfit said it is expanding its bridging solution to Solana. Based on historical precedent, this Bridge integration has a massive positive upside for SOL and ONDO, the native assets of both protocols.
The Ondo Finance and Solana RWA Alliance
According to the announcement, Ondo Decentralized Verifier Network (DVN) has expanded to Solana. With it, the Proof-of-Stake chain can link to other EVM-compatible chains like Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Mantle.
As it noted, through the bridge deployment, USDY holders can move assets across the largest crypto platforms to drive a new value system. With more than $170 million worth of USDY on Solana per Total Value Locked on the tokenization platform, users can now do more with this integration.
“This new bridge unlocks frictionless RWA mobility, empowering users to move USDY fluidly without introducing extra counterparty risks or requiring inefficient capital reserves,” the announcement reads, noting that “Each USDY transfer between chains is maximally capital efficient, requiring no additional external capital to fill transfers, as would be required via third-party bridge environments.”
Over the past few months, Ondo Finance has collaborated with World Liberty Financial in a bid to drive its tokenization agenda. For its strides, it has managed to place its token ONDO in the spotlight.
Implications for Solana and ONDO Price
With an active product in high demand by institutional investors, the ONDO price may gain an additional boost over time. Solana is an established blockchain protocol with millions of users. The access to liquidity, all of which may eventually flow into USDY and Ondo Finance-backed solutions, can fuel a big rally.
At the time of writing, the price of ONDO has rebounded, up 1.05% in the past 24 hours to $0.9215. Just like ONDO, Solana has also staged a breakout, up 2.20% in 24 hours to $150.55.
ONDO has other primary growth triggers, like the recent Binance listing, that can also help boost its price outlook. With growing adoption and exchange listings, the token’s accessibility is growing, setting the underlying coin up for a possible breakout.
Meanwhile, there is a growing quest for RWA tokenization in both the Decentralized and Traditional Finance ecosystems. With its recent technology, Ondo Finance may soon be positioned to take a significant market share.
Vanadi Coffee’s shareholders approved its Bitcoin accumulation plan, opening with a $6.8 million purchase of 54 BTC. It plans to invest $1.17 billion in total, which would make it Spain’s largest Bitcoin holder.
So far, Vanadi’s plan seems to be working, with impressive stock price gains in the last few days. However, economists warn of a corporate Bitcoin bubble that the firm might not be able to withstand.
Earlier this month, Vanadi Coffee did the same, proposing to spend over $1 billion on Bitcoin to replace a flailing core business. At a board meeting yesterday, shareholders unanimously approved the proposal:
NEW: Spanish coffee shop chain Vanadi Coffee announces that shareholders unanimously approved authorizing the Board to negotiate convertible financing lines up to €1B to fund its bitcoin accumulation strategy. pic.twitter.com/3W629cXZti
Since then, things have been moving quite fast. Vanadi has already purchased a significant quantity of Bitcoin, further showing its commitment to carrying out the plan.
Its stock valuation rose around 20% today, building on several days of momentum. Hype built as the board meeting approached, continuing throughout its affirmative decision and these early purchases.
At first glance, this strategy is paying off immediate dividends. If Vanadi manages to spend $1.17 on BTC acquisitions, it’ll become the biggest Bitcoin holder in Spain.
Last year, the firm lost $3.7 million, raising questions about its sustainability in the coffee business. Using its resources for a Web3 pivot could be its best chance of survival.
If major holders liquidate their holdings, it could send a cascade of volatility through the global markets. Since Vanadi’s core business is underwater, it’s issuing debt to buy Bitcoin, making this the core focus.
Not everyone can manage this feat. If Vanadi gets squeezed by crypto volatility, a few Bitcoin liquidations could spin out of control.
All that is to say, there are a lot of mixed signals in the market. Vanadi is committing hard to Bitcoin, and it’s already reaping significant rewards.
Spanish coffee shop chain Vanadi Coffee announces that shareholders unanimously approved authorizing the Board to negotiate convertible financing lines up to 
€1B to fund its bitcoin accumulation strategy. 