The enigmatic leader of the Shiba Inu team, known as Shytoshi Kusama, made a public appearance at the annual Web3 start-up event in Japan, IVS 2024. However, his identity remains concealed as he wore two masks, preventing anyone from seeing his face. A video shared by a Japanese SHIB fan shows a man in black clothing, wearing two masks and a hood, interacting with participants at the SHIB booth. His outfit resembled a Batman costume, with a mask similar to a Black Death plague doctor mask covering the upper part of his face, over another mask that obscured his entire face.
Earlier in the week, Kusama hinted at his first public appearance at IVS 2024, inviting the SHIB army to his 'first-ever meet and greet' via a tweet. Despite his public appearance, Kusama remains pseudonymous. He has kept his real name and appearance hidden since taking over from the founder Ryoshi in 2021. He explained that 'Shy' reflects his natural inclination to avoid the public, 'toshi' pays tribute to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, and Kusama is a nod to Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, whom he admires.
As his mentor suggested, Kusama considered to reveal his identity in the past. However, despite promising to give a speech at the ETH Toronto event while presenting Shibarium, he only presented a recording processed by AI software. Following Kusama's public appearance, the SHIB price showed a slight recovery. After a significant 15% drop overnight, the meme coin regained 5% of its losses.
