A bridge between the soon-to-be launched Shiba Inu-based layer 2 blockchain Shibarium and Ethereum is live for public testing, allowing users to transfer tokens between the two networks, developers said early Friday.

The bridge will initially let users transfer testnet ether tokens to Shibarium, which is due to start operations next month, according to chief developer Shytoshi Kusama. Each transfer is expected to take a maximum of up to 30 minutes and, as of Friday, real assets were not supported.

“Layer 2” refers to a set of off-chain systems – separate blockchains – built on top of layer 1 protocols, reducing bottlenecks with scaling and data. They bundle multiple off-chain transactions into a single layer 1 transaction, which helps reduce the data load and fees.

DoggyDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) run and governed by token holders, will also start operations when Shibarium goes live and will be used to fund projects building on the blockchain.

The testnet has seen meaningful activity in the past months with 27 million transactions from an estimated 16 million wallets as of July, indicating brisk demand for the network.

Developers have previously said Shibarium would have a focus on metaverse and gaming applications especially as the non-fungible token (NFT) sector is expected to heat up in the coming years.