Public interest in Shibarium has collapsed. According to Google Trends data , search interest in the Shiba Inu layer-2 blockchain plummeted from a peak of 100% at 1:00 p.m. UTC on February 18, 2026, to absolute zero within 45 minutes. The figure has remained at zero for the past 24 hours. The sudden drop has rattled community members and observers across the broader crypto space. Shibarium serves as the layer-2 scaling solution underpinning the Shiba Inu ecosystem. It processes transactions at lower costs and higher speeds than the Ethereum mainnet. When search interest on Google Trends is zero, it points to a near-total absence of public curiosity, a sharp reversal from the brief but intense spike recorded less than a day ago. Analysts believe the initial surge in search interest was triggered by a report covering the Shiba Inu team's launch of a new user restoration mechanism. The mechanism was designed to compensate affected Shibarium users through structured payouts and periodic rewards, encouraging continued participation in the ecosystem. Once the initial buzz faded, search traffic evaporated almost entirely. SHIB Price Decline Adds Pressure The search interest collapse does not exist in isolation. Shiba Inu's price performance over the past 30 days has been weak. SHIB has lost more than 20.1% of its value during this period, reflecting sustained bearish sentiment across the broader crypto market. In the last 24 hours alone, SHIB dropped from an intraday high of $0.000006538 to a low of $0.000006143. That decline represents a fall of more than 3.8%. At the time of writing, SHIB trades at $0.00000623, marking a 2.47% loss within the same 24-hour window. Despite the price weakness, one metric showed resilience. Shiba Inu's 24-hour trading volume rose 4.47% to $114.27 million. Elevated volume during a price decline can sometimes indicate strong selling activity, though it also reflects ongoing market participation rather than complete abandonment. Shibarium's History of Volatility Raises Questions This is not the first time Shibarium has defied expectations in a confusing direction. In January, the network recorded a 36% decline in Total Value Locked (TVL), even as Shiba Inu's price rebounded. Investors and analysts had anticipated increased on-chain activity to accompany the price recovery. Instead, more than one-third of the funds previously locked within Shibarium-based protocols were withdrawn. That pattern points to a recurring disconnect between price action and actual network engagement. When retail enthusiasm cools, Shibarium tends to feel the impact sharply. Layer 2 has struggled to sustain consistent on-chain activity independent of broader market excitement.
