The original Doge, Kabosu, who we chased after together all those years, passed away at 7 o'clock on the morning of 5/24.
The original Doge meme dog, Kabosu, passed away at the age of 18 on the morning of 5/24. Let's take a moment to remember Kabosu and reflect on the history of Dogecoin!
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The Original Dogecoin Mascot, Kabosu
The original Doge meme features a Japanese Shiba Inu named Kabosu, with the iconic photo taken in 2010. After Kabosu's owner, Sato, shared the photo online, its cute expression became a popular meme that circulated widely on the internet.
Kabosu was adopted by her owner Sato from an animal shelter in 2008. Due to her round face resembling a Japanese citrus fruit called kabosu, she was given the name Kabosu. Sato would often share Kabosu's daily life on her blog and social media.
The Doge We Once Knew
2013
2013 was a year filled with memes and crypto frenzy. Dogecoin's founder, Jackson Palmer, made a joke:
Invest in Dogecoin! I'm pretty sure it will be the next big thing!
This joke caught the attention of another founder, Billy Marcus, who reached out to Jackson Palmer and turned Dogecoin into a real token that could be mined and traded.
2014
Dogecoin holders teamed up with Reddit to sponsor NASCAR driver Josh Wise, donating $55,000 worth of Dogecoin.
2015
Billy Marcus sold all his Dogecoin to buy a used Honda. He emphasized that the true value of Dogecoin was not about pumping and dumping but about bringing "positive energy" to the world.
2020
2020 marked a year of wild surges for Dogecoin, where any video or tweet could cause its price to skyrocket.
2021
Kabosu's owner, Sato, released various photo NFTs of Kabosu on the NFT platform Zora, including the classic meme image, named "Doge." A decentralized organization known as PleasrDAO, under the alias of digital artist pplpleasr, ultimately bid 1696.9 ETH, equivalent to four million dollars at the time, for this NFT photo.
2022
In 2022, the rise and fall of Dogecoin mirrored the actions of Tesla's founder, Elon Musk. Digital artist Beeple even created an image of Doge as Musk's holy dog. However, the crypto winter led to a significant drop in Dogecoin's value, with Dogecoin investors suing Musk for manipulating cryptocurrency prices through a "Pyramid scheme," resulting in losses for investors.
2023 Celebrates Kabosu's 18th Birthday
The Dogecoin Foundation raised funds to create a bronze statue of Kabosu, placed in the Sakura Furusato Square in Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture. This square was a place where Kabosu often took walks and was used to celebrate her 18th birthday.
During the WebX event held in Tokyo at the end of July, the original Dogecoin mascot Kabosu was supposed to attend alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, but Kabosu ultimately missed the event due to health reasons.
2024
In January 2024, physical Dogecoin and Bitcoin were set to embark on a mission to the moon through Astrobotic's Peregrine 1 mission. Unfortunately, due to a propellant leak, the dream of reaching the moon with a literal "To the Moon" did not materialize!
On the morning of May 24th, the adorable Kabosu passed away at the age of 18. However, her cute image will continue to accompany Dogecoin in the cryptocurrency world!