The lead developer of Shiba Inu, Shytoshi Kusama, has returned to the X platform, teasing an "ultra important" update for the SHIB community. This announcement comes at a critical juncture, as the meme coin's price has plummeted to a three-year low of $0.000006461, erasing its year-to-date gains and following the broader crypto market downturn.
In his posts, Shytoshi hinted that the significant update could be related to AI and a potential integration, noting it was "extremely important to many" and could take hours to explain fully. The development team has rallied around the announcement; developer Kaal Dhairya defended Shytoshi from community criticism over the cryptic messaging, while SHIB marketing lead Lucie expressed she was awaiting the details.
The price collapse is accompanied by severe market sentiment. Data from CoinGlass shows a 4% drop in SHIB's open interest, and the long/short ratio has fallen below 1, indicating more traders are shorting the asset in anticipation of further declines. Technical analysis reveals an extreme fragility, with the SHIB futures market recording a 9,000% imbalance in long liquidations over shorts within a 12-hour period.
Further compounding the bearish outlook, SHIB has confirmed a technical "death cross" pattern, where its 23-day moving average crossed below the 50-day average, traditionally signaling a potential prolonged downtrend. The token is now trading around $0.00000665, below a critical support level.
Amid the turmoil, Lucie outlined the path to rebuilding confidence, emphasizing that execution, not price, is key. She stressed the importance of steady activity on Shibarium (Shiba Inu's Layer-2 network), avoiding exploit patterns, ensuring a smooth LEASH migration, and shipping upgrades without drama. She described SHIB as an asset in transition—"no longer just a meme coin but one that isn’t yet a mature infrastructure network."
Adding a macro perspective, Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy critiqued current tokenomics models as "broken," though he suggested the exit of speculative investors could pave the way for a healthier "builder" phase in the sector.
