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It is 18 days into 2026, and Shiba Inu's lead ambassador Shytoshi Kusama maintains his silence on X.
The Shiba Inu lead ambassador's last activity on X was on Dec. 7 and 8, when he interacted with a few posts from the crypto community.
While expectations remained about Kusama breaking his silence at the year's start, it was not so as he rather maintained a status quo.
The Shiba Inu lead ambassador had always indicated a viewpoint of speaking when he believes the time is right and perfect. Perhaps he was waiting for announcements and developments toward the next phase for SHIB to build up before making a move on X.
At the year's end, Shiba Inu developer Kaal Dhairya informed of the plan to make Shibarium users who were affected by the bridge incident whole again through SHIB Owes You.
Dhairya stated that everything done from this point forward is oriented toward this goal.
The official SHIB Owes You, which refers to SOU NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain, are not yet live, but the community-powered SOUs have kicked off.
Shiba Inu team member speaks on next phase of SHIB growth
Dhairya mentioned in his 2025 year-end message to the SHIB community that the past year, especially in the final months, was the hardest period in Shiba Inu's history, given the Shibarium hack incident that happened in September.
In a Sunday read, Shiba Inu team member Lucie speaks of alignment, capability and the next phase for SHIB.
According to Lucie, holding through uncertainty is not passive but it costs attention, patience and often silence when noise would be easier. Lucie added that what matters most now is that the direction has not changed, with the SHIB framework still in place.
Looking ahead, Lucie says the path forward is less about commentary but more about participation, further adding that the Shib Army has grown past the phase where volume equals value.
"The strongest contributors are often the ones doing the unglamorous work, improving small things, or quietly pushing ideas forward," Lucie said, adding that "the SHIB ecosystem has never been about certainty. It has been about commitment. That is still true."
Tomiwabold Olajide
Gamza Khanzadaev
Alex Dovbnya