The official Shiba Inu ($SHIB) token account on X, which has an audience of 3.8 million followers, has suddenly shifted away from its usual focus. Instead of covering the $SHIB token and the development of its own ecosystem, the project’s media infrastructure has begun actively promoting third-party meme tokens with extremely low market capitalizations.
Two unusual posts appeared on the profile one after another. In a reply beneath another account’s post, the Shiba Inu account left a brief comment openly claiming that a new, little-known frog-themed token was superior to PEPE, a genuinely major project. The post it replied to included the micro-token’s smart contract address.
Shortly afterward, another promotional reply appeared on the account, this time supporting a third-party meme coin launchpad and its native token. The publication was presented in $SHIB‘s signature style, including grandiose slogans about a “mission to save meme culture” and emojis.
The attention economy and three possible scenarios
Amid fierce competition for liquidity, particularly during the summer slump, the entire crypto industry operates according to the rules of the attention economy. Major projects usually try to keep their audience focused on their own products rather than direct valuable traffic toward third-party assets, especially competing meme tokens.
The promotion of micro-cap assets to an audience of 3.8 million followers by a multibillion-dollar giant appears highly unusual and fits three possible scenarios:
- Because this third-party launchpad has appeared in Shiba Inu’s feed more than once, the publications may be part of an official commercial agreement. However, this raises the question of why the account’s management would deliberately dilute its community’s attention to promote highly speculative assets.
- It is also possible that individual $SHIB developers or managers with access to the main account decided to monetize the project’s enormous audience for personal gain.
- The possibility of an account compromise also cannot be ruled out. Publishing contract addresses in replies and encouraging users to buy new tokens are classic warning signs of a hacker attack.
At the time of publication, official ecosystem representatives, including lead developer Shytoshi Kusama, had not commented on the situation. Until the context of these publications is clarified, $SHIB investors and holders should exercise extreme caution and avoid rushing to follow links posted through the project’s account.
