The Shiba Inu developers have issued a new statement about the Shibarium bridge. In it, they openly admit that developers made mistakes in the way the bridge was set up and managed. They also acknowledge that they initially didn’t make decentralization a priority. Now, they claim that addressing this issue and improving security are their primary objectives.
Shibarium Bridge Security Update: Shiba Inu Devs Accept Responsibility
In the latest update, Shiba Inu developer Kaal Dhairya explains that the project’s leadership holds full responsibility for validator key management. She also admits that the team did not prioritize decentralization during the early stages of the bridge, a choice the developers now call a mistake and are working to correct immediately.
The team is actively reinforcing Shibarium’s bridge controls and custody policies to prevent similar issues from occurring again. The compromised validators included internal ones, and while a full forensic review is still underway, the possible attack paths include a cloud breach, a compromised developer device, or a supply-chain weakness.
The update revealed validator signing keys were in AWS Key Management Service, with limited use on developer machines for administrative tasks. It also provides operational context, noting that each validator held approximately 10,000 BONE in self-delegation, and the team never utilized the rewards from these validators.
To increase transparency, the Shibarium bridge security update includes a detailed FAQ section that directly addresses the validator compromise. It clarifies that all answers reflect the team’s current understanding and may evolve as forensic analysis and third-party reviews continue. By sharing these details openly, the Shiba Inu developers are showing that they are not avoiding the Shibarium bridge issue but instead are confronting it directly.
Roadmap Forward: Stronger Decentralization And Security
With the security review underway, the Shiba Inu developers are now focusing on how to strengthen Shibarium for the long term. In the update, Kaal Dhairya said decentralization will no longer be an afterthought. The network, which had leaned too much on internal validators, will now open up to professional operators and trusted applicants.
Dhairya explained that developer recruitment now includes government ID checks and verification through a recognized HR platform, steps that guarantee only trusted individuals can handle sensitive parts of the network.
At the end of the update, they made their priorities clear – to protect users, secure the network, contain the attacker, and bring services back online safely. They note that decentralization has always been at the core of Shibarium’s roadmap. Still, early validator applicants refused to complete KYC, and outreach to professional operators failed to progress, which delayed the process.
That setback forced the Shiba Inu team to rely on internal validators, a choice they now regret and commit to correcting by expanding validator decentralization, introducing stricter key-rotation rules, and improving custody solutions.
