Shiba Inu lead, Shytoshi Kusama, has emerged from a long hibernation to issue a cryptic message to the broader SHIB community and team. 

Recall that the Shiba Inu lead has been quiet on social media for nearly three weeks. However, he broke his silence yesterday via his Telegram channel, dubbed ‘Shytoshi Portal.’ 

Is Something Cooking? 

In a tweet, Lucie, the marketing specialist for the Shiba Inu ecosystem, shared a screenshot of Kusama’s Telegram message and called the broader community to it. The comment reads, ‘Next week, let’s go back to it, can we?’ 

As expected, the cryptic message got several community and team members wondering what Kusama was up to. Lucie also quizzed whether the Shiba Inu leader is ‘cooking,’ hinting that Kusama might be preparing something behind the scenes for next week. 

In the meantime, Kusama has not provided more insight into the cryptic message, leaving the community to brainstorm its possible meaning. 

Look @ShytoshiKusama in Shy telegram ☺️ Cooking? pic.twitter.com/CZ1thnPggv

— 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐄 (@LucieSHIB) April 17, 2025

Shiba Inu Lead Returns from Three-Week Social Media Break 

Kusama could be preparing to resume building and expanding the broader Shiba Inu ecosystem after a lengthy holiday that kept him off social media for weeks. According to the text, he might fully resume next week. 

Meanwhile, the Shiba Inu lead also broke his silence on X yesterday by making his first post since March 28. In the tweet, he shared a Spotify link to the ‘Shy Speaks’ podcast, where he discussed the recently introduced Karma Reputation System. 

He referred to the 21-minute podcast as the ‘first of many’ he intends to make as the team pushes to release its decentralized operating system, Shib OS. In the inaugural episode, Kusama joined Shadowhunter, a top Shiba Inu developer, to explain Karma and its functions. 

KARMA…

Let's talk about it: 👇https://t.co/yRDX0RJM1W

👆👆👆First of many podcasts are coming your way as we continue pushing forward to release the operating system of the future.

— Shytoshi Kusama™ (@ShytoshiKusama) April 17, 2025

Karma Goes Live on Shibarium Testnet 

The podcast follows Karma’s release on Puppynet, the testnet version of Shibarium. Notably, the Karma system aims to capture the community’s true engagement within the Shiba Inu ecosystem. 

Instead of relying on social media engagement to rate users’ devotion to Shiba Inu, Karma will track their DeFi activities on Shibarium and ShibaSwap and reward them with points. 

This is similar to what is obtainable in a gamified system where players progress through a leaderboard by completing certain tasks. As previously reported, the Karma system has seven levels, ranging from Pup to Dogo Master. 

Each level gives users real influence within the ecosystem. As they progress, users will receive stronger voting power, greater community visibility, and expanded ability to submit more governance proposals.