Propose an edit: Ryoshi

From memecoin.wiki, the free memecoin encyclopedia

Title Category One sentence summary Infobox, one "key: value" per line Article body, markdown, use [[wiki links]] and end with a ## References section

Ryoshi is the pseudonym of the unknown person or group who created Shiba Inu, launching the SHIB token on Ethereum in August 2020. Nothing about their real identity has ever been confirmed, which makes Ryoshi the [[meme coin]] era's closest equivalent to Satoshi Nakamoto, an origin story with no person attached.

## The experiment

Ryoshi framed SHIB in Medium essays as "an experiment in decentralized spontaneous community building," positioning it as a Dogecoin rival that would be owned entirely by its community, the self described SHIBArmy. The launch's signature move was sending half of the total supply to [[Vitalik Buterin]]'s public wallet, a gesture that read as marketing genius when Buterin burned 90 percent of it in May 2021 and donated the rest to charity, permanently removing it from circulation and validating the token's scarcity story. SHIB went on to reach a top ten market capitalization during the 2021 mania, minting a generation of lottery winners and establishing the dog coin category alongside [[Dogecoin]].

## I am nobody

Ryoshi wrote repeatedly that they were unimportant to the project, including the line quoted in U.Today's coverage: "I am nobody. I have said from the beginning, I am a nobody, I am not important." They also warned they would one day disappear the way Bitcoin's creator did. On May 30, 2022, Ryoshi made good on it, deleting all posts on Twitter and Medium and going permanently silent. Leadership of the ecosystem passed to another pseudonymous figure, Shytoshi Kusama, who has confirmed in later interviews covered by Benzinga that Ryoshi, not Kusama, founded the project.

## Legacy

Speculation about Ryoshi's identity resurfaces regularly and has never been resolved. Within [[the trenches]] the Ryoshi playbook is studied as the purest execution of anonymous founding: give the supply away, build a mythology, disappear before anyone can subpoena you. Every pseudonymous deployer who claims their coin belongs to the community is, knowingly or not, quoting Ryoshi.

## References

- https://u.today/mysterious-shib-founder-ryoshis-message-suddenly-surfaces-after-4-years
- https://www.notebookcheck.net/Shiba-Inu-founder-goes-dark-er.624982.0.html
- https://benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/25/01/42758813/shytoshi-kusama-clears-the-air-on-shiba-inu-role-memecoin-rivalry-our-drive-was-to-overtake-dogecoin
- https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/05/17/vitalik-buterin-burns-6b-in-shib-tokens-says-he-doesnt-want-the-power

Your handle or name (optional) Note to the moderators (optional)

A moderator reviews every submission before it publishes.