SHIB Team Under Fire? Shibarium Participant Issues Crucial Ultimatum

K9 Finance, Shibarium’s official Liquid Staking platform and Shiba Inu partner, has issued an ultimatum to the Shiba Inu team, and this is in response to the Shibarium bridge incident.

K9 Finance was impacted in the September 2025 Shibarium bridge exploit, which resulted in the theft of various cryptocurrencies, including ETH, SHIB, LEASH, ROAR, TREAT and more than $700,000 worth of K9 Finance’s KNINE tokens.

K9 Finance said it had followed every step requested by the Shib team regarding the Shibarium bridge hack and the process to make affected users whole. All the while, it had operated in good faith and maintained multiple private communication channels in an effort to reach closure.

However, in what might be viewed as a setback, K9 Finance says it had received no further communication or guidance in any of its private discussions with the Shib team at the moment.

K9 Finance said the decision to make this information public on social media was a necessary step toward providing clarity to its holders and ensuring responsible governance.

As reported, Shima, a K9 Finance and Shiba Inu contributor, tracked the hacker’s trail, linking original hack wallets while making the outcome public as the hacker rejected the bounty.

In response to the report, Shiba Inu developer Kaal Dhairya commended the move to unravel the identity of the hacker, promising to involve the FBI and requesting KuCoin’s cooperation.

January ultimatum issued

To uphold transparency and fairness, the K9 Finance DAO said it will be establishing a final window for resolution, waiting until Jan. 6, 2026, for users to be fully and verifiably made whole from the Shibarium bridge incident.

K9 Finance further stated that if no complete restitution was provided by this date, the DAO would formally convene and vote on its future relationship with Shibarium, including whether continued business on the chain remains viable for the long-term health of its ecosystem.

K9 concludes that its statement on X serves as its professional notice to the community and to the Shiba Inu team as part of its duty to protect its holders and should not be taken as a desire for conflict.

While it remains open to collaboration, aligned incentives and constructive resolution, K9 stated its community deserved clarity, finality and a defined path forward and promised to share further updates as new information becomes available.