One thing I’ve been observing in the crypto market is how certain projects fall behind when utility doesn’t match the initial hype. The case of Shiba Inu is quite illustrative of this.

Look, the TVL in Shibarium, its layer 2 solution, has been stagnant for months below one million dollars. That’s concerning considering Shibarium was supposed to be the growth engine of the ecosystem. But the reality is that no one is really using the network. Shibarium’s TVL should reflect real activity, adoption, capital movement. Instead, we see the opposite.

The numbers don’t lie. Despite burning massive amounts of tokens recently, that deflationary mechanism simply isn’t enough when the core problem is structural. The circulating supply of SHIB remains huge, and that limits the potential for price appreciation. Also, developers may be working hard, but if Shibarium’s TVL stays so low, it means their efforts aren’t generating the traction they need.

Meanwhile, smart capital is moving toward narratives with real utility. AI compute, DePIN, genuine infrastructure. SHIB got stuck in its meme coin identity, and although they try to escape that, the market isn’t buying the new story. Shibarium’s low TVL is just the most visible symptom of a deeper problem: lack of real demand for the ecosystem.

This is what happens when community and marketing can’t sustain a project without solid fundamentals. The market finally realizes.