Shiba Inu Unveils SOU as K9 Finance Disputes Claims Exclusion
The Shiba Inu team has developed a novel on-chain claims system that is intended to support those who have been affected by the Shibarium bridge exploit, which occurred last year. This is referred to as the Shib Owes You (SOU). This system provides a cryptographic proof of eligibility, which is permanently stored on the Ethereum blockchain.
According to the SHIB team, SOU is a good-faith effort to assist with the recovery of losses due to the September Shibarium hack. The NFT-based proof provides a transparent record that a wallet address has a valid claim. The system may include payouts, community donations, and rewards, according to the team.
SOU is live
Introducing SOU (Shib Owes You) an onchain NFT built as a good-faith effort to support impacted users with payouts, donations, and occasional rewards.
Transparent. Tradable. On-chain.
You can transfer it, split it, merge it, or trade it on marketplaces.
Claim your… pic.twitter.com/ONyO8OitJQ
— Shib (@Shibtoken) February 16, 2026
KNINE Claims SHIB Compensation Exclusion
Nonetheless, there have been controversies over the rollout. K9 Finance has publicly expressed concerns over its reported exclusion from the SOU claim process.
The @shibtoken team has chosen not to include $KNINE in their Shib Owes You (SOU) NFT claim, despite KNINE being the largest impacted community in the hack of their Shibarium infrastructure
Please read the terms of their SOU NFT here: https://t.co/YQo8zUFzya
In Kaal’s specific… pic.twitter.com/Oj9BFYaKWL
— K9 Finance DAO (@K9finance) February 20, 2026
The KNINE community claims that it was one of the most impacted during the bridge exploit and cited earlier comments from Shiba Inu developer Kaal Dhairya, which indicated that the intention was to ensure that everyone was made whole.
As of the time of writing this, there is no official information regarding the absence of K9 Finance within the SOU system. The project has encouraged users to contact the SHIB team for further clarification.
The news comes shortly after K9 Finance announced that its DAO voted on permanently sunsetting all products deployed on Shibarium. The shutdown is set to be implemented on February 25, 2026, following the recent fallout from the bridge exploit. As part of the wind-down process, users are reminded to withdraw funds from Bonecrusher before the deadline.
REMINDER – Users should withdraw all assets from Bonecrusher before the sunset date of Feb 25, 2026.
If you were experiencing an issue with your knBONE being detected, that issue should now be resolved.
Tech support issues are handled in Telegram and not here on X.
We…
— K9 Finance DAO (@K9finance) February 18, 2026
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Shiba Inu Team Warns of SOU Scam Websites
Meanwhile, a member of the Shiba Inu team, Lucie, issued a public warning about scam websites that are posing as offering claims for SOU. She warned the community that there are fake portals that are trying to drain their wallets.
SHIB Owes You. And Now It’s Proven On Chain.
The bridge got hit. People’s tokens never arrived. That hurt. And SHIB did not look away.
They built SOU. Shib Owes You.
Here’s what that actually means in plain terms 🧵
The Bridge Exploit That Started It All
The bridge exploit… pic.twitter.com/2QUDF8jKfZ
— 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐄 (@LucieSHIB) February 18, 2026
As the SOU goes live, the Shiba Inu ecosystem will be subject to renewed efforts to build trust while simultaneously facing scrutiny regarding claims processing.
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Filed under: Bitcoin - @ February 21, 2026 5:00 pm