RIP Kabosu: Beloved Dog Behind World-Famous ‘Dogecoin’ Meme Passes Away

Kabosu, the internet-famous Shiba Inu who became a popular meme and led to the birth of Dogecoin (DOGE) and several other meme coins, has died at 18.

Her owner, 62-year-old local kindergarten teacher Atsuko Sato, who resides in the city of Sakura in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, shared the news in a May 24 blog post.

“Today, Kabosu, our community’s shared friend and inspiration, peacefully passed, in the arms of her person,” Dogecoin’s official X account also confirmed the sad news on X. “The impact this one dog has made across the world is immeasurable.”

Today Kabosu, our community's shared friend and inspiration, peacefully passed in the arms of her person. The impact this one dog has made across the world is immeasurable.

She was a being who knew only happiness and limitless love.

Please keep her spirit and her family in…

— Dogecoin (@dogecoin) May 24, 2024

On May 26, the iconic Shiba Inu will be honored at a farewell party at Flower Kaori in Kotsu no Mori, Narita City.

From Adopted Puppy To The Face Of Dogecoin

Kabosu, the wide-eyed Shiba Inu featured in the original Doge meme, whose fluffy visage adorns the popular Dogecoin cryptocurrency, was a former rescue dog who accompanied her owner, Atsuko Sato, to work every day. Sato personally took and uploaded the original photos to her blog in 2010. The photo, usually accompanied by funny phrases in broken English and the irreverent Comic Sans font, became a bedrock of digital culture.

A few years later, Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus launched Dogecoin, a Litecoin fork, in 2013. While it was created to poke fun at the crypto industry, it has since become the largest meme coin by market capitalization. In May 2021, the canine-themed crypto registered an all-time high after a bull run driven by the r/WallStreetBets community on Reddit.

Dogecoin’s influence extends beyond just being a meme. Its success inspired a whole category of doggy-themed tokens, such as Shiba Inu (SHIB), Floki (FLOKI), and Dogwifhat (WIF). Suffice it to say that Kabosu played a vital role in uniting a diverse community of crypto lovers. Without her, the landscape of meme-inspired crypto assets, an industry currently worth nearly $60 billion, might not have come into existence.

According to CoinGecko data, the DOGE price has climbed 5.6% compared to yesterday and is changing hands for $0.1676 at press time. In the past 24 hours, $2.71 billion worth of DOGE has been traded.