A top Shiba Inu developer has released a personal statement addressing allegations that the team failed to report the Shibarium Bridge hack to law enforcement.
Since the Shiba Inu ecosystem suffered a major security breach that drained more than $3 million in user funds via the Shibarium Bridge, several controversies have emerged. As affected users waited for recovery, independent blockchain sleuth Shima suggested that the Shiba Inu team never formally reported the incident to authorities.
According to Shima, KuCoin was alerted to freeze a portion of the stolen funds on its platform. However, when the exchange reportedly requested a case ID to proceed, the team was unable to provide one. This disclosure raised doubts about whether the Shiba Inu team had initially reported the hack as it claimed.
Notably, critics claim the team either did nothing or fabricated its cooperation with authorities.
However, Kaal Dhairya, a top developer within the ecosystem, has issued a statement addressing these allegations.
In the commentary titled ‘Here we Stand,’ Dhairya insisted that the team reported the incident. He even disclosed that up to three federal agents interviewed him in relation to the hack. According to him, he provided the agents with the necessary details, including technical findings and open-source intelligence (OSINT).
He noted that the official investigative process has been underway for some time. Meanwhile, he stated that he will not share any complaint ID with the public. In his view, such demands do not come from genuine concern for affected users but from opportunists seeking attention, influence, or personal gain during a crisis.
While insisting that he will no longer continue defending himself, Dhairya argued that the focus must now shift to recovery, restitution, and infrastructure hardening. For context, the Shibarium hack left numerous victims with millions in losses.
Although the team initially took emergency measures, such as halting withdrawals to limit further damage, it has since moved steadily toward fully restoring operations.
For example, the team partially reopened the Plasma Bridge in October, allowing users to withdraw BONE. Now that the Plasma Bridge is back online, Dhairya stated that the technical recovery from the hack is nearly complete.
He outlined several improvements, including new security safeguards on the Shibarium Plasma Bridge, the migration of more than 100 critical contracts to hardware custody, and comprehensive third-party audits.
Meanwhile, Dhairya introduced a new compensation framework called Shib Owes You (SOU) to address losses suffered by affected users.
The initiative centers on an SOU NFT that serves as an on-chain, verifiable record of each user’s claim. Under this system, every affected user would receive an NFT that permanently records the exact amount owed to them.
Unlike off-chain promises or internal databases, these claims are written directly to the Ethereum blockchain, making them transparent and publicly verifiable. Each NFT tracks a principal balance representing the outstanding amount owed to the holder.
As repayments occur either through direct payouts or community contributions, the principal balance decreases accordingly. As a result, holders can monitor in real time how much they were originally owed, how much they have received, and the outstanding.
According to Dhairya, holders will also be able to split, merge, transfer, or even sell their SOU NFTs on supported marketplaces to access immediate liquidity. However, he acknowledged that the initiative can only succeed if revenue flows into the system consistently.
Dhairya called on early beneficiaries of the ecosystem to contribute financially — not as a voluntary gesture, but as an obligation tied to accountability.
To support this effort, he announced a strategic realignment: projects that fail to generate revenue or reach break-even will be paused to free up resources, ensuring sufficient funds are available to compensate affected users.
He emphasized that the ecosystem’s long-standing revenue model will now prioritize reimbursing victims of the Shibarium hack. Shiba Inu originally aims to allow builders, individuals, and companies to freely use the brand to create products and services, with the sole obligation to give back to the ecosystem that enabled their success.
The revenue distribution framework itself remains unchanged, with allocations of 10% to non-profits, 10% to token burns, 15% to the foundation, and 15% to the core team. However, the order of priority has shifted. Dhairya said revenue will now go toward compensating affected users, before any other allocations.
He also cautioned the community to remain vigilant against scammers, noting that the SOU initiative has not yet gone live.
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