- Shiba Inu lead developer Shytoshi Kusama has broken the silence on the Hawk Tuah controversy.
- He advised the community to ignore the token amid preparations for the SHIFU airdrop.
Shytoshi Kusama, the lead developer of the Shiba Inu (SHIB) ecosystem, has warned the community members against investing in the controversial “Hawk Tuah” scheme. At the same time, Shytoshi denied involvement with the project’s team.
Shytoshi Denies Involvement With the ‘Hawk Tuah’ Scheme
Taking to the X platform, Kusama shared details about his alleged connection to the recently launched Hawk Tuah memecoin.
Launched by influencer Haliey Welch of the “Hawk Tuah” fame, the memecoin quickly pumped and dumped shortly after its release. Some crypto market participants have accused the team behind the official Shiba Inu X account of promoting the pump-and-dump coin.
Kusama acknowledged in the X post that Welch’s team approached him months ago to promote the coin.
The lead developer said he declined the offer and moved on. Kusama admitted that things quickly spiraled when he received a message that the Welch team wanted to airdrop millions of tokens to the SHIB army.
Kusama admitted to accepting the free tokens, stating,
Because Shib is decentralized, the post including Shib was going out regardless. So okay, you want to airdrop tokens, won’t be the first or last, and we have methods in place to accept these properly (Leash etc), like we have done in the past. So sure. Main account RTs.
Despite this, Kusama denied any collaboration or agreement with the team at the time. The Shiba Inu leader stated that as they were preparing for the airdrop, Welch’s team conducted a “instant launch.” He expressed shock that the team denied their involvement and described the act as shameful.
The lead developer disclosed that he holds about $60,000 worth of HAWK coins and expressed disapproval of getting involved with the Memcoin launch.
Thus, he said the ecosystem would politely decline and ignore or ask Welch’s team to burn the tokens to SHIB. Meanwhile, the Welch team has since denied the allegations, noting that no free token was given to any influencer.
According to Dexscreener data, the Solana SOL/USD-based coin is down 29.07% in the last 24 hours. Also, market capitalization plummeted to $24.9 million from $425 million immediately after launch.
Kusama Endorse SHIFU Memecoin
Kusama’s disclosure on the “Hawk Tuah” scheme comes on the heels of recent expansion in the Shiba Inu ecosystem.
CNF reported that Kusama had announced the launch of SHIFU, a new dog-themed meme coin. Airdrop for the new memecoin will become available to holders of SHIB, BUBBLE, LEASH, and IO NFTs.
Popular crypto advocate Lark Davis said the snapshot process is expected to start soon, adding more thrill to the project. Kusama’s endorsement has brought credibility to the SHIFU memecoin.
Shiba Inu remains one of the best-performing tokens in the market amid the SHIFU hype. In the last week, the token has appreciated by 16.3%, and monthly gains stood at 57.5%, setting the price at $0.00002996.
As revealed in a CNF post, analysts maintain a bullish stance, despite a 65% decline from its peak price. For instance, crypto analyst Therealcryptojk expects a jump above $0.00003182.
Another analyst, AbichaDagreat, set price targets between $0.0002 to $0.0006 for SHIB in 2025.
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