Shiba Inu’s core development team is escalating its response to the Shibarium bridge exploit after a new on-chain investigation mapped the hacker’s Tornado Cash laundering trail to KuCoin deposit accounts. Reacting to on-chain sleuth Shima (@MRShimamoto) on X, core developer Kaal Dhairya wrote “Great work! This needs to be amplified. I will also ensure it’s sent to the FBI attached to the open investigation report and request Kucoin to cooperate.”

Shiba Inu Sleuth Exposes Shibarium Hacker

The Shibarium bridge was exploited in mid-September in an attack estimated at around $2.3–$2.4 million, after the perpetrator seized a super-majority of validator keys and withdrew assets including ETH, SHIB and KNINE. K9 Finance DAO, Shibarium’s liquid-staking partner, launched a bounty process that started at 5 ETH, later advanced to a 20 ETH smart-contract offer and ultimately to a final 25 ETH proposal endorsed directly by the Shiba Inu team. The exploiter never accepted, and K9 Finance has since confirmed that the unclaimed ETH in the bounty contract has been returned to contributors, with Shib.io receiving back 20 ETH.

In a detailed 1 December thread, Shima said the “Shibarium Bridge hacker foolishly chose not to accept the K9 bounty – it’s finally time to share the investigation we’ve been working on,” describing months of tracing that involved thousands of transactions and 111 wallets. His reconstruction shows 260 ETH flowing from exploit-linked wallets into Tornado Cash, with 232.49 ETH ultimately reaching KuCoin through 48 deposits into 45 unique KuCoin deposit addresses, which he believes are largely operated by money mules rather than the hacker directly.

According to his write-up and an accompanying MetaSleuth dashboard, the trail begins with the original exploit address and nine “dumping” wallets. Those wallets received the stolen tokens, liquidated them gradually for ETH over roughly a week, and sent a total of 260 ETH into Tornado Cash. Of that amount, 250 ETH entered the mixer’s 10-ETH pool and 10 ETH the 1-ETH pool in an attempt to break on-chain linkability between the hack and any later withdrawals.

The critical breakthrough, Shima says, came about forty days after the exploit. A wallet already tied to the hacker cluster sent exactly 0.0874 ETH to what was intended to be a clean Tornado withdrawal wallet. That minor top-up, he describes as “one stupid mistake” that “completely unravelled their Tornado Cash laundering,” because it established a direct on-chain connection between the exploit side of the graph and a supposedly anonymous post-mixer address. From that contaminated node he was able to work outward, clustering multiple Tornado withdrawal wallets, intermediaries and final KuCoin “funnel” wallets.

Shima reports that each funnel wallet typically routes funds to two KuCoin deposit addresses, creating a final cluster of 45 KuCoin endpoints and roughly two dozen depositors that he argues can be treated as money-mule cash-out accounts. He says the full address list, transaction graph and methodology were first shared privately with the Shibarium team so they could approach law enforcement and KuCoin while any funds remained within reach. However, he recounts that KuCoin’s fraud desk insisted on receiving a formal law-enforcement case number before acting on the evidence.

The official ShibariumNet X account has now publicly backed the research: “Thanks to @MRShimamoto for doing all the hard work here to compile this thread. We truly appreciate your diligence and methodical approach. Hopefully this investigation can continue with the help of the proper authorities. The communities need answers.”

At press time, Shiba Inu (SHIB) traded at $0.00000878

Dogecoin’s entry into the ETF market has changed the tone of the entire meme-coin sector, possibly opening the door for the likes of Shiba Inu and BONK. What began as a community hype token is now tied to a fully regulated product, and that achievement has pushed attention toward other popular meme coins. BONK and Shiba Inu are now the next names being discussed as institutions explore broader exposure to alternative cryptocurrencies.

BONK Moves Ahead With A Fully Listed ETP In Europe

Although the early inflows into Dogecoin’s ETF launch have been largely more underwhelming than what most expect, the establishment of an exchange-traded product for the king of meme coins opens up conversations about other meme coins. 

BONK is a standout example, taking a decisive step forward with the launch of an exchange-traded product tied to the meme coin on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The debut immediately led to an intraday rally as traders reacted to the token gaining a presence on one of Europe’s most established regulated markets. 

SIX is Switzerland’s largest and Europe’s third-largest stock exchange. Therefore, the ETP gives investors access to BONK without having to manage custody themselves, making it far easier for traditional market participants to gain exposure.

This development builds on BONK’s rising activity within the Solana ecosystem. Its trading volume and market capitalization have been climbing for weeks, and the ETP adds a form of legitimacy rarely given to meme coins. BONK now joins a very small group of community hype tokens that have crossed into regulated investment territory, giving it a stronger foundation as demand from new classes of investors grows.

The new BONK ETP was issued by Bitcoin Capital, a firm known for launching multiple cryptocurrency ETPs across major European markets. “With the Bonk ETP now listed on SIX Swiss Exchange, investing in Bonk has never been easier. Investors don’t need crypto expertise; they can trade Bonk just like any other stock. We’re making community-driven digital assets accessible to everyone, while meeting high security and regulatory standards,” added Marcel Niederberger, CEO of Bitcoin Capital 

Shiba Inu Attracting Institutional Interest

Shiba Inu has not yet secured an exchange-traded product of its own, but the token is steadily carving out its place in the wider fund landscape as major institutions begin weaving it into their early product designs. Even as Shibarium’s activity has cooled in recent weeks, SHIB is still part of broader conversations about regulated exposure.

One of the clearest examples comes from T. Rowe Price, a heavyweight in traditional finance with more than $1.7 trillion in assets under management. The firm recently submitted a filing for an actively managed crypto ETF that lists SHIB among its holdings.

Shiba Inu also appeared in Grayscale’s assessment of cryptocurrencies viewed as structurally viable for future spot-ETF models. These developments indicate that long-term positioning for Shiba Inu is becoming stronger as institutions evaluate which assets fit into their next generation of crypto funds.