According to U.Today, the enigmatic leader of the Shiba Inu team, known by the pseudonym Shytoshi Kusama, has made a public appearance at the annual Web3 start-up event in Japan, IVS 2024. However, his identity remains a mystery as he was seen wearing two masks, making it impossible to see his face. A video from the event was shared by a Japanese SHIB fan, showing a man in black clothes, two masks, and a hood, interacting with IVS 2024 participants at the SHIB booth. The man's attire resembled a Batman costume, with a mask similar to a Black Death plague doctor mask covering the upper part of his face, on top of another mask that concealed his entire face.
Earlier in the week, Kusama had hinted at his first public appearance at IVS 2024. He invited the SHIB army to his 'first ever meet and greet' via a tweet. Despite his public appearance, Kusama continues to remain pseudonymous. He has been hiding his real name and appearance since he took over from the founder Ryoshi in 2021. He revealed that 'Shy' represented his natural desire to avoid the public, 'toshi' was in honor of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, and Kusama was in reference to Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, whom he admired.
In the past, Kusama had considered revealing his identity after his mentor suggested it. However, despite promising to give a speech at the ETH Toronto event while presenting Shibarium, he only presented a recording of his speech processed by AI software. Following Kusama's public appearance, the SHIB price has shown a slight recovery. After a significant 15% drop overnight, the meme coin has regained 5% of its losses.