Shiba Inu's flagship token SHIB is at risk of slipping out of the top 30 by market capitalisation.

On June 22 (local time), blockchain media outlet The Crypto Basic reported that Shiba Inu lead developer Shytoshi Kusama (시토시 쿠사마) has been inactive on X, formerly Twitter, for more than a month, while SHIB has slipped to 29th amid a recent bear market.

Kusama's last activity was on May 13. He mentioned fellow developer Kaal Dhairya (칼 다이리야) at the time, sparking expectations in the community that a major update was near. Since then, Kusama has left no reactions, including new posts, likes or replies.

For long-time Shiba Inu participants, the silence itself is not entirely unfamiliar. Kusama has previously stepped away from social media for periods ranging from weeks to months. In December 2025, he temporarily left X, saying he was reviewing artificial intelligence solutions aimed at strengthening the Shiba Inu ecosystem, and returned in late January 2026. Short absences continued after that, but a lack of any visible return timeline for more than 5 weeks, as this time, is adding to the burden.

What market participants are watching more closely is Kusama's current direction. Kusama has said his social media disappearances are linked to an AI project and has introduced it as the next stage of Shiba Inu's evolution. But updated profile wording suggests that the project, R. OS, is being positioned to operate separately from Shiba Inu.

Kusama is believed to be focusing on developing the R. OS application. Some investors have raised questions about whether priorities are shifting away from the SHIB ecosystem, given that Kusama remains Shiba Inu's lead developer. These concerns have spread further because R. OS is not designed as a project that directly supports core Shiba Inu tokens such as SHIB, BONE, LEASH and TREAT.

Price action has also been weak. SHIB fell below $0.000005 in recent days and is now hovering above $0.000004677. Its market capitalisation was tallied at $2.75 billion. It is down 32.3 percent since the start of the year and is 94.73 percent below its all-time high of $0.00008845.

As a result, SHIB's market-cap ranking has become precarious. SHIB currently ranks 29th in global cryptocurrency market capitalisation, but PayPal USD and Avalanche are close behind at $2.74 billion and $2.72 billion, respectively. If market weakness persists and the head developer's absence is not resolved, Shiba Inu will face a situation in which it must defend its status among the top 30 cryptocurrencies.