On May 24th, Kabos, the symbol of Memecoin, passed away after a long illness.
Kabosu, which symbolizes the Dogecoin (DOGE) token, was 18 years old. The condition has rapidly worsened since early May. The dog could no longer walk independently and was moved around with the help of an animal wheelchair.
Kabosu’s owner, Atsuko Sato, wrote on the Kabochan blog that Kabosu felt normal for him to eat and drink water before he died. The dog’s farewell ceremony is scheduled for May 26 in Narita, Japan.
âWhen the weather gets cooler, I want to hold a fun farewell party at Sakura Furusato Plaza.â
Atsuko Sato, Kabosu owner
In December 2022, Cabosu was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Atsuko Sato said the pet was âin a very dangerous condition.â On Christmas Eve, the dog stopped eating and drinking, but after a while his appetite returned.
Cryptocurrency community reaction
Fans of the cryptocurrency community and, most famously, Shiba Inu, expressed their condolences.
A post was posted on the official Dogecoin
To honor the dog’s memory, Dogecoin fans decided to release a long-planned limited collection of NFTs. All 5,000 NFTs are free and users only need to pay gas fees.
The Shiba Inu (SHIB) cryptocurrency community also expressed gratitude to Kabosu for his contribution to the development of the meme coin.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also joined in the sadness by retweeting the post from the owner of Kabosu.
From haven to cryptocurrency industry leader
Cabosu came to the volunteers after his previous owner and breeder went bankrupt and could no longer support the dogs he had taken to the shelter. At the charity center, Kabosu was taken away by Atsuko Sato.
Photos of the pet first appeared on its owner’s blog in 2010 and went viral almost immediately. Cabosu became famous after a photo of him misspelling the word ‘Doge’ in English went viral on the Internet.
There were many posts about the image of Kabos’ surprised face lying with his feet folded, and various pictures were added, turning the image into a meme. Cabos’ popularity grew, and portraits of dogs appeared in a variety of places, from toys to Bitcoin (BTC).
In 2013, the internet meme ranked 12th on MTV’s “50 Reasons Pop Culture Made Us Grateful This Year” list. That same year, developer Jackson Palmer used the Doge as the logo for the Dogecoin cryptocurrency.
In 2018, Vitalik Buterin visited a dog owner in Japan.
Later in 2020, Kabosu’s image appeared in another popular meme. It’s about two Shiba Inu dogs, one of which symbolizes strength and resilience, the other symbolizing weakness and helplessness.
Elon Musk also purchased this meme coin. He revealed that Tesla, Starlink, and Starship will accept Dogecoin for payments, and integration into the X payment service is also planned.
How Dogecoin Impacts the Meme Coin Market
When Dogecoin developers launched the project, Kabosu had already become the personification of the meme coin. This may be why the developers used a dog meme on their coin.
Dogecoin’s main goal was to show users a satirical take on how cryptocurrencies suddenly became popular. In reality, cryptocurrencies do not stand out from other cryptocurrencies and do not deserve special attention.
The power of social impact has been a significant driver of DOGE’s growth and traction. The first phase of the coin’s heyday began in 2021, when the value of Dogecoin increased by more than 800% in 24 hours, reaching $0.07, thanks to the support of Reddit users. In February, the Doge fan community welcomed Elon Musk.
Dogecoinâs success led to the emergence of similar projects. Dogecoin’s closest competitor, Shiba Inu, was initially launched to surpass Dogecoin’s popularity using the same image as the Japanese Shiba Inu dog breed.
Afterwards, the Shiba Inu image went viral in the meme coin market. The project releases a whole range of DOGE analogs stylizing famous dog images, including BabyDoge and Dogwifhat (WIF).
However, no one has yet been able to surpass Dogecoin’s success. This coin has consistently been in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization for several years. He doesn’t even think about giving up his seat to anyone.