Gushiken Yona
The Shiba Inu development team has raised the Shibarium bridge bounty to 25 ETH, issuing a final on-chain offer to the hacker who stole more than $700,000 in K9 Finance DAO (KNINE) tokens, after rejecting earlier 5 and 20 ETH proposals and maintaining a 50 ETH demand.
Key Points
- Shiba Inu team issued a "final offer" of 25 ETH to the hacker who stole $700,000 in K9 Finance DAO tokens, escalating the Shibarium bridge bounty standoff.
- The negotiation unfolds transparently on the Ethereum blockchain, with all offers and rejections publicly recorded, highlighting a unique approach to crypto asset recovery.
- Stolen KNINE tokens are blacklisted and useless, prompting a trustless smart contract mechanism for recovery where the hacker must approve token transfer for the ETH reward.
Public On-Chain Negotiation Over Shibarium Bounty
The dialogue between the Shiba Inu team and the attacker is occurring transparently on the Ethereum blockchain, with each offer and rejection recorded permanently. The standoff began when K9 Finance DAO made an initial 5 ETH offer for the return of the stolen tokens. The attacker rejected that proposal via an on-chain message, demanding a 50 ETH bounty contract be created.
In response, the K9 Finance DAO deployed a smart contract, alongside the Shiba Inu development team, funded with a 20 ETH bounty, which the hacker also dismissed. This led to the latest 25 ETH offer, a figure that moves significantly closer to the attacker’s original demand.
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The on-chain message accompanying the new offer was direct. “25 ETH, final offer,” the team wrote. “This is Shib offering more funds. Not K9 DAO.” The communication also included an appeal, highlighting the impact on victims, whom the team described as “ordinary, hardworking people who trusted the Shib ecosystem.”
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Mechanics and Next Steps in the Shibarium Bridge Bounty Standoff
The increased Shibarium bridge bounty places the decision squarely back on the hacker. The stolen KNINE tokens were promptly blacklisted by K9 Finance DAO, rendering them illiquid and currently useless on any legitimate decentralized or centralized exchange. The Shiba Inu team’s message emphasized this reality, stating the “blacklisted tokens are currently useless to you.”
The recovery mechanism was designed to be a trustless exchange. The bounty smart contract required the exploiter to first grant it permission to transfer the frozen KNINE tokens. Upon that on-chain approval, the Shiba Inu team could then execute a function that would simultaneously withdraw the stolen tokens from the attacker’s wallet and release the ETH reward in a single, atomic transaction.
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YONA GUSHIKEN
Yona brings a decade of experience covering gaming, tech, and blockchain news. As one of the few women in crypto journalism, her mission is to demystify complex technical subjects for a wider audience. Her work blends professional insight with engaging narratives, aiming to educate and entertain.
