Shiba Inu and the Pink Hat: The Rise and Fall of an Encryption Legend

On August 5, 2025, an ordinary pink knitted hat will go up for auction. This hat was the iconic symbol of Dogwifhat(WIF), which once led the trends in the encryption world. At its peak, WIF's market value exceeded 4 billion dollars, and the community even raised nearly 700,000 dollars to project the Shiba Inu image wearing this hat onto the giant screen in Las Vegas.

Earlier, on March 18, 2024, this "Shiba Inu with a hat" was minted as an NFT and auctioned on a digital art platform. At that time, a well-known encryption trader bought it for 1210.759 ETH(, approximately 4.3 million USD), setting the second-highest transaction record on the platform.

However, just a year later, this hat faced auction again, but few showed interest. In the aftermath of the NFT craze and the sluggish market environment, once-popular projects are now encountering neglect. As a representative old-school meme coin, WIF's situation is even worse. After the auction news was announced, there was almost no reaction on social media.

From being the center of attention to being forgotten, the story of WIF reveals a harsh truth: in the world of Web3, being forgotten is the true death. The auction of this hat may be the last mark WIF leaves in the history of encryption. However, its rise and fall is worth pondering for every project fighting in this battlefield of attention.

The Rise of WIF

At the end of 2023, a simple photo began circulating in the encryption community: a Shiba Inu wearing a pink knitted hat. No one could have predicted that this seemingly random combination would create a market value of billions of dollars in the following months.

The explosion of WIF cannot be separated from a key figure, Ansem. As one of the most influential opinion leaders in the encryption sphere, when he began to frequently mention this "hat dog", a miracle happened. Each of his social media posts was like a shot of adrenaline injected into the market, pushing WIF from obscurity into the spotlight of the encryption world.

The rise of WIF is astonishing—within just 81 days, its market value surpassed the $1 billion mark. The enthusiasm of the community exceeds everyone's imagination. They are not satisfied with merely spreading the image of the doge on the internet; they want to do something unprecedented—project WIF onto the giant LED sphere in Las Vegas. This is the largest spherical screen in the world, with millions passing by each day, and if the doge could appear on it, it would be the most iconic moment in the history of meme coins.

In March 2024, the crowdfunding originally aimed at $650,000 was achieved in just a few days, ultimately exceeding expectations and reaching nearly $700,000. Community members generously contributed, believing that this was not just a marketing campaign, but a key step for WIF towards mainstream adoption. The internet was filled with excited discussions, and everyone was counting down to the moment when the hat dog would light up the Las Vegas night sky.

On March 31, 2024, after the crowdfunding of this project ended, market sentiment reached its peak, and WIF set a historical high price of $4.83. During that crazy time, WIF seemed to be unstoppable. Almost every encryption community was discussing this Shiba Inu wearing a pink hat. Ansem's influence, the enthusiasm of the community, and the FOMO sentiment in the market perfectly combined to propel WIF to its peak.

That was the golden age of WIF, and every holder believed they were witnessing the birth of a new Doge. Hats were not just hats; they became a cultural symbol, an identity, and a faith in the infinite possibilities of the encryption world.

WIF's Las Vegas Nightmare

The turning point of fate came so quickly. In January 2025, the Trump meme emerged, sucking away the liquidity of the encryption market like a black hole. Shortly thereafter, in February, the tariff policy announced by Trump triggered macroeconomic uncertainties, leading to a significant correction in the encryption market. Among them, the decline of meme coins was particularly severe. To this day, although mainstream coins have returned to high levels, most meme coins are still struggling in the quagmire of deep corrections.

The deadliest blow came in April 2025. It all started with false hopes at the beginning of the year – on January 29, the official Dogwifhat account released a long-awaited teaser for the Las Vegas dome project, instantly igniting the community's enthusiasm, with WIF surging 34% in a week. However, the good times didn't last long; the operator of the dome quickly released a statement, clearly stating that "they had never had any business cooperation discussions with any encryption project." This cold water poured down completely, and after the denial statement was released, WIF plummeted nearly 10% within an hour.

Worse still, serious divisions began to emerge within the community. Some members questioned the project's transparency and strongly demanded a detailed public account of the fundraising fund usage. The trust crisis spread like a virus.

After nearly a year of enduring waiting, on April 1, 2025, one of the initiators of the plan finally announced the official abandonment of the project and began refunds. Nearly $700,000 in fundraising and countless days and nights of anticipation ultimately turned into bubbles. At this time, the WIF price had fallen to a low of $0.42, and after the news of the project's abandonment broke, WIF plummeted again, setting a new low of $0.30 for the year. This last straw completely crushed the community's confidence. Even the planning team behind WIF seems to have chosen to give up.

Adding insult to injury, Ansem's voice began to fade away. This former opinion leader who used to mention WIF every day gradually turned his attention to other projects. After months of downturn, WIF seemed to have disappeared from the internet. The once ubiquitous doge memes vanished, fervent community discussions fell silent, and even the most loyal supporters began to change sides.

At the same time, other meme coins are making great strides in their respective arenas.

• Doge remains the unshakable king. Every new meme aspires to become and surpass Doge. The CEO of Tesla has never stopped interacting with Doge, and he has long been the best spokesperson for Doge.
• Pepe has occupied another high ground with its classic frog image. Pepe has become a part of internet language thanks to its vast ecosystem of memes.
• Pengu is backed by the powerful NFT community of Pudgy Penguins and has also gained the favor of certain Wall Street institutions. Pengu is committed to expanding the web2 ecosystem and recently announced a collaboration with a trendy IP consumer goods company in China. At the same time, they are also active on multiple social media platforms.

These successful meme coins share a common characteristic: multidimensional vitality. They are either supported by representative opinion leaders, have strong community creation capabilities, or have gained institutional recognition. Most importantly, they have established a diversified communication network that will not collapse due to the disappearance of a single support.

In contrast, the issues with WIF are clear. It over-relies on Ansem's personal influence, has not established its own content ecosystem, lacks innovative mechanisms, and has failed to gain institutional favor. When the initial hype subsided, it had no support system to rely on.

In this era of extreme attention scarcity, once you start to be forgotten, it is nearly impossible to return to the spotlight. WIF is experiencing this cruel process - from being the center of attention to being ignored, it has only taken a few months.

The Harsh Truth of the Encryption World

The pump is justice. Although this phrase sounds crude, it accurately summarizes the essence of this market. In the traditional financial world, we still talk about fundamentals, value investing, and long-termism. But in the world of meme coins, all these concepts are simplified into one number: price.

Prices are rising, everything is correct. The community is active, opinion leaders are competing to recommend, and new holders are continuously pouring in, starting a positive cycle. Prices are falling, and all problems will be exposed. The community begins to infight, opinion leaders quietly exit, panic spreads, and the death spiral follows.

For WIF, it is facing two fatal problems:

First, no longer remembered. The speed of time in the encryption world is ten times, a hundred times that of the real world. Hot topics from three months ago are already ancient history here. When Ansem no longer mentions WIF, when the community no longer creates new content, and when trading volume begins to shrink, WIF changes from a "present continuous tense" to a "past perfect tense." In this market, which is always chasing the next get-rich-quick opportunity, no one will be interested in history.

Secondly, the attraction of the wealth creation effect has been lost. The fundraising failure of the dome project is not just a marketing setback, but it exposes a cruel reality: when prices fall, even the most loyal community members become cautious. Without new capital inflows, there is no momentum for price increases; without price increases, it is impossible to attract new capital. This is an unsolvable dilemma.

The deeper truth is that in this era dominated by attention economy, the life and death of meme coins often hinge on a single thought. A single post can create a hundredfold coin, while one failure can ruin all efforts. There is no gradual decline here, only a cliff-like collapse.

The story of WIF is a microcosm of countless meme coins. They streak across the sky of the encryption world like meteors, briefly illuminating a corner before quickly disappearing into the darkness. A few lucky ones can become stars, but most can only accept the fate of being forgotten.

This is the survival rule of the encryption world: stay relevant, or die. There is no middle option.

Being forgotten is the true death

On August 5th, that pink knitted hat will be looking for its new owner.

The moment the auction hammer falls may perhaps be the last footnote left by WIF in the history of encryption. In a sense, the fate of this hat is quite ironic – it once represented a market value of billions of dollars, symbolizing the dreams of a community, but now it must seek meaning through auction.

But this ending precisely confirms our initial viewpoint: in the world of Web3, being forgotten is the true death. Hats can be auctioned, collected, and placed in a museum display case. But WIF, as a meme, a cultural symbol, and an encryption currency, has gradually lost its popularity. Not because the code had issues, not because it was hacked, but because people no longer remember it.

This is an era where attention is scarcer than gold. Every day, new projects are born, new stories are told, and new wealth myths circulate. In this never-ending cycle, only those projects that can continuously capture people's minds can survive. Others, no matter how brilliant they once were, will be washed away by the torrent of time.

Interestingly, NFTs, as products of the previous era, have shown even stronger vitality during this round of meme coin dominance. Even in the NFT winter, some well-known NFT projects can still create buzz with occasional IP licensing news, and some series occasionally achieve sky-high transaction prices that flood the screens. There are also projects that regain public attention due to the release of physical toys. The teams behind these projects are still working, and the community remains strong; they have successfully carved out a bloody path, continuously generating actual commercial value and profits.

In contrast, most meme coins are products of wild growth. They often lack a clear team structure, have no long-term business plans, and are harder to align with the mainstream.