Shiba Inu lead developer Kaal Dhairya released an end-of-year letter on December 29 outlining what he called the most difficult period in the project’s history, outlining recovery steps after the hack, law enforcement engagement, and a proposed chain claims system to track refunds to affected users.
End of year letter from the Shiba Inu team
“This year, especially the last few months, has been the most difficult time in Shiba Inu history,” Dhairya wrote. “The hack happened. The leaders who were supposed to be there and help us through this difficult time weren’t. They left, without accountability and without looking back. I stayed.”
Dhairya said he wasn’t writing as Shiba Inu’s official “leader,” but argued the community deserves a direct update on what’s been done, what’s still unresolved, and what’s changing internally. He described the team working “around the clock – sleepless nights, weekends, holidays” and framed the letter as an accountability-driven reset focused on reimbursement and basic infrastructure.
Responding to allegations that the team failed to file a formal complaint, Dhairya said a formal process was underway and rebuffed requests for public evidence. “I have personally been questioned by not one, not two, but three federal agents,” he wrote. “I passed on everything I had – all the information, all the OSINT, all the details that we collected during and after the incident. The official process is underway. It happened.”
He declined to share identification and said he would not continue to “defend” the response to opportunistic critics, arguing that some are “looking to sell their snake oil and continue to extract snake oil from you.”
Dhairya said that “the technical recovery is largely complete,” detailing the changes made after the hack. He wrote that the Plasma Bridge was back online with new safeguards, including “a blacklist, 7-day withdrawal deadlines and strengthened contracts”, and said that more than 100 critical contracts had been transferred to the hardware’s custody. Hexens has looked at “every major change,” he added, and the checkpoint system is working again.
He also flagged a longer-term architectural change: “We’re also decoupling the validator bridge,” describing it as foundational work intended to enable Shibarium’s decentralization. Even with this, he warned that malicious validators remain a risk and that decentralizing the chain “is not going to be easy.” Dhairya drew a difficult distinction between restoring infrastructure and reimbursing users. “But technical recovery is not the same as people’s recovery,” he wrote.
SOU: “Shib owes you” claims via NFT
To solve the repayment problem, Dhairya introduced SOU (“Shib Owes You”), a system which he says is “not yet operational” and is likely to attract scammers claiming otherwise. Under the proposal, each affected user receives a “SOU NFT” that records what the ecosystem owes them as an on-chain claim on Ethereum.
“This is not a promise in a database somewhere,” Dhairya wrote. “It’s cryptographic proof that you own a claim, permanently recorded on the Ethereum blockchain where no one can manipulate it or make it disappear.”
Each SOU tracks a principal amount that decreases as payments or donations are made, with progress visible “in real time” and verifiable. Dhairya said SOUs can be “merged, split or transferred,” including the ability to sell a liquidity claim on supported markets. He added that the components of the system – “minting, payments, donations, transfers” – were audited by Hexens.
Dhairya argued that the system only works if cash flows flow into it, and said this should be treated as an obligation for ecosystem players, especially those who control official distribution channels. “For SOU to work – for affected users to actually be cured – revenue must flow into the system,” he wrote. “This means that everyone who benefits from the Shiba Inu ecosystem must contribute back. Not in an optional way. As an obligation.”
It said it would suspend or stop projects that do not generate revenue or break even, and prioritize initiatives that could fund repayment. “The revenue goes to SOU. SOU reimburses affected users. If a project does not fit into this chain, it waits,” Dhairya wrote. He also planned potentially controversial changes, including overhauling tokenomics and restructuring or merging systems to redirect value “back to the network and to affected users.”
In conclusion, Dhairya said that he has personally devoted a lot of time and money to maintaining the ecosystem, but he cannot do it forever. “I can’t keep doing this forever,” he wrote, calling on others to step up their efforts if they think Shib should be “a decentralized network” rather than a “meme” or “pump.”
“The coming year will not be about hype,” Dhairya added. “It’s going to be about fixing, focusing and building something that can actually last.” »
At press time, Shiba Inu was trading at $0.00000721.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Editorial process as Bitcoinist focuses on providing thoroughly researched, accurate and unbiased content. We follow strict sourcing standards and every page undergoes careful review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance and value of our content to our readers.
