Former Boxing Champ Manny Pacquiao’s Foundation Will Use Shibarium for Its Operations

Shiba Inu (SHIB) ecosystem’s upstart blockchain Shibarium will be used by the Manny Pacquaio Foundation for fundraising and operational activities starting Wednesday; developers told CoinDesk in a release.

The Manny Pacquiao Foundation is a California 501 (c)(3) nonprofit led by its namesake, eight-division World Boxing Champion and former Philippine Senator Emmanuel (Manny) Pacquiao. MPF has been accepting SHIB on its website since 2021.

“The Pacquiao Foundation is dedicated to fighting for those in need around the world and has already done so for more than a million people requiring urgent assistance,” said Jon Sisson, Executive Director of the Manny Pacquiao Foundation, in a statement to CoinDesk. “Shibarium will allow us to continue this good work while scaling up operations to help millions more.”

Shibarium is a layer 2 blockchain built on Ethereum that allows users to cheaply transact on the network. Layer 2’s are off-chain applications built on top of a ‘base’ blockchain; these applications are typically faster with reduced bottlenecks.

Shibarium suffered a botched launch in August but has since recovered and processed thousands of transactions each day, data shows.

The Shiba Inu ecosystem has been vying to become a serious decentralized finance (DeFi) contender. Its popular SHIB token, themed after the Shiba Inu dog breed and inspired by Dogecoin (DOGE), was issued in August 2020. It quickly became one of the largest meme coins by market capitalization.