The internet is mourning the loss of Kabosu, the adorable Shiba Inu dog who became the unofficial mascot of the Doge meme and the inspiration behind the Dogecoin (DOGE) cryptocurrency. Kabosu's owner, Atsuko Sato, a kindergarten teacher from Japan, announced the news on her blog on Friday, May 24th, 2024.
Sato wrote a heartfelt message about Kabosu, stating that the dog died peacefully at home. "She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her," Sato said.
"I think Kabosu-chan was the happiest dog in the world. And I was the happiest owner."
Sato also expressed her gratitude to everyone who loved Kabosu over the years.
Kabosu's rise to fame began with a simple photo. In 2010, Sato uploaded a picture of the dog tilting her head with a curious, slightly raised eyebrow expression. The photo quickly went viral, spreading across platforms like Reddit and Tumblr. The internet dubbed the Shiba Inu "Doge" – a play on the word "dog" with a purposefully broken, misspelled spelling.
By 2013, the Doge meme was a global phenomenon. The meme typically featured the photo of Kabosu with colorful Comic Sans text superimposed on the image. The text often included broken English phrases expressing inner monologue, like "Wow. Such empty. Much sad" or "So doge. Very wow."
From meme to cryptocurrency: How Kabosu became the face of Dogecoin (DOGE)
In 2013, programmers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer created Dogecoin (DOGE), a cryptocurrency featuring the image of Kabosu on its logo. Originally intended as a "joke" and a satirical response to the wild speculation in the cryptocurrency market at the time, Dogecoin surprisingly gained traction and value.
Despite fluctuating value, DOGE remains a popular cryptocurrency with a dedicated online community. Figures like Elon Musk openly support the crypto token, going too far to briefly change Twitter's logo to Doge's before finally changing it to "X."
The dog's legacy goes beyond memes and cryptocurrency. Her charming photo brought joy to millions of people around the world. Her story is also one of rescue and adoption—Sato adopted Kabosu from a shelter in 2008 after the dog breeder who originally owned her went out of business.
After Dogecoin (DOGE), several other cryptocurrency projects, including Shiba Inu (SHIB), Baby Doge Coin, and Dogelon Mars (ELON), have used mascots related to the Japanese Shiba Inu dog.
Although the original Doge meme dog has passed away, her legacy will undoubtedly live on through the "Doge" meme and Doge coin itself. The death of Kabosu doesn't seem to have had any profound effect on Dogecoin, although its value did drop slightly a few hours after the news broke.
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Dogecoin (DOGE) Price Chart (Coinmarketcap.com)
However, it has since rebounded and recorded a 3.7% increase in the last 24 hours, trading at $0.165 with a market capitalization of $23.88 billion at press time.
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