The dog who became famous for the doge meme—and later became the face of Dogecoin cryptocurrency—has died.
The BBC reports that the Japanese shiba inu Kabosu passed away from leukemia and liver disease on May 24. Her owner Atsuko Sato believed the dog was 18 years old.
"She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her," Sato penned on her blog, per the outlet. "I think Kabo-chan was the happiest dog in the world. And I was the happiest owner."
Sato rescued Kabosu from a puppy mill in 2010, where she would have been put to sleep. Her birthday was unknown. Kabosu found fame after Sato photographed her sitting on the couch with her paws crossed and posted it on her blog. The image spread like wildfire and became a meme.
After selling as an NFT digital artwork for $4 million, the picture also inspired Dogecoin. Two software engineers launched Dogecoin as a joke, though the cryptocurrency is now the eighth-most valuable on the market.
Kabosu was diagnosed with leukemia and liver disease in 2022. Though the shiba inu has passed, her legacy lives on in a $100,000 statue erected in a park in Sakura, Japan last November. The statue was crowdfunded by Sato and crypto organization Own the Doge; together, they have also donated money to charity, including $1 million to Save the Children.
RIP Kabosu.
