CZ Denies Owning Shiba Inu (SHIB) Dog Riki in October 29 Rebuttal

CZ Rejects Viral Pet Story

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has denied owning a Shiba Inu (SHIB) dog, rejecting a viral social media story that claimed he kept a pet named Riki. In a reply posted to his X account on Thursday, October 29, CZ said on X that he has never owned a Shiba Inu at any point in his life and does not know who or what Riki is. He extended the denial to the token as well, stating plainly that he holds no Shiba Inu (SHIB) coins. His reply arrived the same day the story began circulating, leaving little time for the claim to harden into accepted fact.

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The post that drew the response came from a well-known crypto content account, which asked Zhao to confirm a story about the alleged pet. That narrative claimed the dog had adjusted to life in Tokyo faster than the Binance founder himself and had never once faced a problem as ordinary as paying rent. The account behind the post appeared uncertain about its own material, presenting the story as a question and inviting Zhao to share a little-known detail about the supposed animal. For the token, the episode stayed a sentiment story rather than a market event: no filing, listing or protocol change sat behind it, the Shiba Inu price was not the subject of any announcement, and the claim concerned Zhao personally. Shiba Inu (SHIB) is a memecoin built on the Ethereum network. Zhao, who founded Binance, an exchange still ranked among the largest in the world by trading volume, added that he generally avoids answering posts of this type because they carry more errors than a single reply can correct.

Fake SHIB Endorsement Suspected

Reactions split almost immediately. Some users treated the story as harmless internet fiction about a billionaire and his imaginary dog, arguing that a fact-check was an unnecessary honor for a post nobody took seriously. Others saw something more calculated: an attempt to build a fake endorsement narrative around Shiba Inu, using Zhao's name to suggest that the founder of a top exchange stood behind the asset. The poster's own uncertainty did little to settle that debate.

The origin of the story is still unknown. No account has come forward to explain where the Riki narrative began, and nothing in the public record distinguishes between a deliberate manipulation attempt and an unverified rumor that spread because it was entertaining. The distinction matters, because an endorsement story tied to a figure of Zhao's stature could, if left unanswered, move a sentiment-driven asset more than most official updates would. SHIB's recent market record also shows how much the token depends on flows rather than headlines: COINOTAG's earlier coverage recorded a 95.68 billion token net outflow from exchanges, while open interest slumped to $37.3M, far below the $50M benchmark traders watch. Another report showed the burn rate jumped 428,862% in a single day. Traders weighing the pet story against those numbers can follow the SHIB technical analysis for the levels framing the chart.

What the Rebuttal Means for SHIB

COINOTAG's read: Zhao's same-day denial removed any endorsement premium before it could form, since the founder of the largest crypto exchange brand flatly rejected both the dog and the holdings. The token's case still rests on its tokenomics, burn activity and exchange flows, none of which changed on October 29. Social stories can move a memecoin for hours, but they rarely alter the flows that set its price. The open question is who authored the Riki story and why; until that is answered, the fake-endorsement theory remains an unconfirmed interpretation of the event.