Who Created Shiba Inu ($SHIB)?

In August 2020, an anonymous individual (or group) called “Ryoshi” created Shiba Inu ($SHIB) —a decentralized cryptocurrency that exponentially surged months after it launched.

SHIB garnered a whole community of supporters called the SHIB Army, who promoted the coin across social media, mainly on the microblogging platform Twitter. SHIB’s exponential growth spread throughout the crypto community and mainstream media.

But what do we know about the founder(s)? Despite SHIB’s outstanding popularity, it seems the entity who created Shiba Inu, Ryoshi, is following the same steps as Bitcoin’s Satoshi Nakamoto.

SHIB’s Founder Disappears From Crypto World

At first, SHIB posed as the main memecoin that could rival Elon Musk’s beloved Dogecoin ($DOGE), and it did overcome DOGE by becoming the most popular dog-themed coin for retailers in 2021.

Let’s put some context first: Ryoshi kept silent throughout most of 2021. The only sign of activity was spotted on May 30 when Ryoshi deleted all of his tweets and Twitter bio. This leaves room for speculation: did he delete his social media presence, or did his account get hacked?

The first option seems more befitting since Ryoshi hinted at disappearing in a now-deleted Medium blog post: “I am not important, and one day I will be gone without notice.” He then encouraged SHIB developers to continue working on the SHIB ecosystem.

Ryoshi’s disappearance was in line with June 2022’s crypto market’s broader downturn. After the announcement, SHIB took a hit and dropped 5%, which added more fire to the 80% price drop from the coin’s all-time high in October 2021.

Rumors and theories about Ryoshi’s possible identity and what his actions mean abound in the crypto community. Shiba Inu’s project lead Shytoshi Kusama wrote a Medium post on May 30 to pay respect to the anonymous founder and demystified rumors that the SHIB community faced after his departure.

It’s worth noting that Ryoshi wasn’t involved with the SHIB project for at least a year, so most of the input and direction of the ecosystem was thanks to developers and the overall community, who are carrying on Ryoshi’s vision, according to Kusama.

“As we grow these components and set up platforms for the greater ShibArmy, we actualize Ryoshi’s vision and plan for this grand experiment. FUD will be just that. But Shib is Shib and we remain to grow far into the future following the path laid by our magnificent founder.”

What’s Next For SHIB?

Ryoshi’s departure doesn’t mean SHIB developers and the community will stop running the project. Two popular integrations for the SHIB ecosystem are Shibarium and SHIB: The Metaverse.

Shibarium – SHIB’s Layer-2 Solution

Shibarium is a layer-2 (L2)—a blockchain built on top of Ethereum— first proposed by Ryoshi. Like many other L2s, its purpose is to migrate SHIB tokens to the L2 for higher scalability and lower gas fees.

SHIB: The Metaverse

One of the most hyped-up projects within the SHIB community is the SHIB metaverse.

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According to the founders, the SHIB metaverse is built on Shibarium and contains 100,595 plots of land released in phases. The first phase will have 32,124 land plots available for minting. Prices range from 0.2 ETH to 1 ETH.

Users will have to discover some hidden land across the digital landscape and generate new opportunities for the ecosystem using them. Land plots within the metaverse are divided into four categories: Silver Fur, Gold Tail, Platinum Paw and Diamond Teeth.

They can also collect in-game Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), reap rewards and perform other activities, such as studying and working. As per a Tweet from Kusama, the SHIB metaverse will integrate David Kern, a prominent figure in the gaming industry who has contributed to multiple AAA game titles as a graphic designer, producer, and 3D animator.

Shiba Eternity

Shiba Eternity is a trading card game highly expected by the community, which had its first sneak peek at the gameplay after Kusama announced the first successful test for Vietnam players on iOS devices. The game features card battles that take place in the “Dogjo” arena, with two Shibas standing on a podium while the players take their turn to choose one of their five cards to attack—similar to Axie Infinity.