During the latest episode of the AB Majlis podcast, the lead developers of Shiba Inu Shytoshi Kusama and Kaal Kaal Dhairya unveiled their intention to transition control of the project entirely to its community by the end of this year. This strategic move is part of a broader initiative to realize what they describe as the “true decentralization” of the network, aligning closely with the original vision of the project’s founder, Ryoshi.

Why The Leading Shiba Inu Devs Will Step Down

Shytoshi Kusama, a pivotal figure in the development and proliferation of Shiba Inu since the departure of Ryoshi, articulated the nuances of this transition. “At the end of this year, we will hand everything over to the community, and we step away,” Kusama explained, emphasizing that the decision is rooted in empowering the community rather than retreating from the project.

Kusama’s colleague Dhairya echoed this sentiment, reflecting on their journey from ordinary participants to leaders of a crypto revolution. “We are normal community members. We started off by buying tokens off the exchanges like everyone else. And we just took the experiment and the vision that was laid out by Ryoshi to its completion,” Dhairya stated.

Throughout their roles as key developers of Shiba Inu, both Kusama and Dhairya have maintained strict anonymity, using masked appearances and voice modulation in public communications. Dhairya referred to their anonymity as a “superpower,” which allows them to blend seamlessly into the community, ensuring genuine and unbiased feedback that is crucial for the organic development of the project. “That is the way that we can blend in with the community and get their input when we need to, and we can just get the true honest feedback when we need to,” Dhairya elaborated.

In an era where the public personas of crypto founders often influence project perceptions, Kusama and Dhairya’s choice to remain anonymous is both a philosophical and strategic decision, emphasizing the project’s community-centric approach over individual leadership.

Looking forward, the departure of Kusama and Dhairya represents a significant test for Shiba Inu’s decentralized model. The transition promises to empower the community not only in governance but also in the evolution of the project’s technological underpinnings. The focus is on leveraging the collective genius of its members to propel the adoption of Web3 technologies, moving beyond the confines of conventional Web2 paradigms.

Shytoshi Kusama highlighted this aspect, stating, “The genius of Shib is the power of the community.” This sentiment was further reinforced by his comments on personal anonymity and the irrelevance of his public persona to the project’s success.

“It’s not that I have. In fact, I believe as Ryoshi would always say, I’m nothing special. I’m no one special. Definitely not a looker by any means. So there’s no need for my face to become a public figure. Let the mask remain famous.”

He added, “Hundreds of millions of views would agree with you. But the power of SHIB is not because of me or because of Kaal [Dhairya],” he remarked, reinforcing the ethos that “the genius of Shib is the power of the community.” Kusama also highlighted what makes the Shiba Inu project special, “It is because of the community. And that is what is most important, the technology, to take web2 to web3, and the brand of a very special dog breed that has gone viral many times as a meme.”

At press time, SHIB traded at $0.00001315.