Prominent leverage trader James Wynn (also known as the Hyperliquid whale) has publicly written off Shiba Inu (SHIB), calling the project a developer cash grab and predicting it will never stage a real comeback.

His post arrived on the same day that large SHIB holders sent 1.04 trillion tokens to exchanges. That volume was nearly 6.5 times the prior day’s deposit total, pushing SHIB’s price to $0.0000041, a drop of more than 8% in 24 hours.

James Wynn Writes Off SHIB

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The trader, known for his Hyperliquid liquidations on leveraged bets, argued that the development team ran a cash grab through the ecosystem’s BONE token.

BONE is the governance token for ShibaSwap, the project’s decentralized exchange, and the gas currency for Shibarium, Shiba Inu’s Ethereum Layer 2 network. He said the project has lost relevance, and that only nostalgia, five to 10 years from now, might briefly revive it.

Shiba Inu Whales Reverse Course

The on-chain data adds weight to the bearish case. According to CryptoQuant data, exchange reserves snapped back to 80.5 trillion tokens in a single session, reversing months of steady outflows.

Falling reserves typically signal conviction, with holders withdrawing tokens from circulation. A sudden spike in the other direction signals the opposite.

That reversal landed on already fragile ground. SHIB’s price capitulation this month had already placed roughly 87% of holders in the red. With most of the holder base underwater, a mass move to exchanges creates pressure from both sides. This shift increases the supply available to sell, leaving fewer holders with profit left to protect.

SHIB’s market cap is approximately $2.42 billion, placing it 37th by market cap. The token has fallen more than 26% over the past 30 days and is down nearly 65% over the past year.

Whales Were Buying Before They Were Selling

Wynn’s reading is not universal. Earlier in 2026, on-chain signals showed that mega-whale balances rose by roughly 28.5% even as the price fell. This suggested some large holders were buying dips rather than exiting. However, Thursday’s deposit data points in a different direction.

If those same whales are now moving supply to exchanges, the accumulation thesis may have shifted. Whether this exchange surge marks the start of sustained distribution or a short-term flush will likely define SHIB’s near-term price action.

Traders tracking a longer view can monitor the SHIB price outlook as conditions develop.

Source: BeInCrypto