Shiba Inu, who inspired the ‘doge’ internet meme and cryptocurrency, has died at age 18

Kabosu, the shiba inu dog who went viral under the name “doge,” has died, his owner announced Friday.

Owner Atsuko Sato, 62, confirmed the news on her social media on Friday. Kabosu suffered from leukemia and liver disease since 2022 and died on May 24.

“She passed away peacefully as if sleeping while I caressed her,” Atsuko Sato wrote.

“I think Kabo-chan was the happiest dog in the world. And I was the happiest owner.

“Thank you all so much for loving Kabosu all these years. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who has sent us so much love.

Ms. Sato, a teacher in Sakura, east of Tokyo, adopted Kabosu from a shelter in 2008 after the puppy mill where she was born closed. Since Kabosu was a rescue, Ms. Sato isn’t sure when she was born, but she estimates Kabosu was around 18 years old.

A photo of Kabosu with sideways eyes and crossed paws from 2010 went viral in 2013, creating one of the Internet’s most iconic photos.

Ms. Sato initially posted the photo on her blog, where it can still be seen, from which it spread to Reddit, Tumblr and several other online discussion forums, after which it was dubbed “doge », a deliberate dog spelling mistake.

The image was usually accompanied by funny, broken English in a fontless comic, as if to imitate Kabosu’s inner monologue.

The photo later inspired a cryptocurrency called Dogecoin, which started as a joke by software engineers, which now has a market capitalization of $23 billion and is often mentioned on X by tech mogul Elon Musk.

Musk called Dogecoin the “people’s crypto” and briefly changed the Twitter logo to Doge as a joke in April 2023.

The image also became an NFT digital artwork that sold for $4 million (£3.1 million) in 2021.

“Since Kabosu came to my home, a series of miraculous things have happened, enriching my life and giving me a treasure trove of priceless moments,” Ms. Sato told the Japanese newspaper. Ashahi Shimbun in February.

In 2020, Ms. Sato spoke about Kabosu, explained how it became part of her family, and gave a brief history of the iconic photo in an interview with Know your meme, an archive of viral moments and images online.

“The volunteer who took Kabosu out of the animal welfare center and protected her gave her this name. I think they invented it because Kabosu has a round face. Kabosu is a kind of citrus fruit (popular in Japan),” Ms. Sato said.

“I took the photos to update my blog. I take a lot of photos every day, so this day is nothing special. Kabosu loves having her photo taken, so she was excited to have the camera pointed at her.

“I didn’t know anything and I still don’t really understand,” she added of the photo’s popularity.

In November last year, a $100,000 statue of Kabosu and his couch, funded by Own The Doge, a crypto organization, was unveiled at a park in Sakura.

Sato and Own The Doge have also donated significant sums to several international charities, including a reported $1 million to Save the Children.