The Rise and Fall of WIF: The Forgotten Tragedy in the Encryption World

On August 5, 2025, a pink knitted hat will be auctioned. This is not some designer brand or historical artifact, but rather the iconic item of Dogwifhat(WIF) - the hat that once took the crypto world by storm on the head of a Shiba Inu. In November 2024, this hat was still a symbol of a meme coin with a market value exceeding $4 billion, and the community even raised nearly $700,000 to project the image of the Shiba Inu wearing it onto the giant dome of The Sphere in Las Vegas.

Earlier, on March 18, 2024, this "Shiba Inu with a Hat" was minted as an NFT and auctioned on a certain NFT platform. In the end, it was bought by a renowned trader in the cryptocurrency field for a high price of 1210.759 ETH(, approximately 4.3 million dollars), making it the second highest auctioned piece on the platform at that time.

At that time, no one would have thought that this hat would enter another auction less than a year later, and this time hardly anyone showed interest. Against the backdrop of the NFT narrative collapsing and the market being silent, the once popular Meme faces a silent neglect. Meanwhile, WIF, as a representative old Meme, is in an even worse situation. After the auction news was announced on August 1, it didn't even manage to stir a ripple on social media.

From being the center of attention to being forgotten, the story of WIF reveals a cruel truth: in the world of Web3, being forgotten is the real death.

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 KOLs in the encryption field, when he began frequently mentioning this "hat dog" on social media, miracles happened. Every one of his posts was like an injection of excitement into the market, pushing WIF from an obscure meme coin to the center stage of the encryption world.

The rise of WIF is astonishing - it took only 81 days for its market value to exceed $1 billion. The enthusiasm of the community has exceeded everyone's imagination. They are not satisfied with merely spreading the image of the Shiba Inu on the internet, but want to do something unprecedented - project WIF onto The Sphere in Las Vegas. This is the largest spherical LED screen in the world, with millions of people passing by every day. If the Shiba Inu could appear on it, it would be the most iconic moment in the history of meme coins.

In March 2024, a crowdfunding campaign originally aimed at $650,000 reached its goal in just a few days, ultimately exceeding $700,000. Community members generously opened their wallets, believing this was not just a marketing campaign, but a key step for WIF towards mainstream acceptance. Social media was filled with excited discussions, as everyone counted down to the moment when the hat dog would illuminate the Las Vegas night sky.

On March 31, 2024, after the crowdfunding of The Sphere project ended, market sentiment peaked, and WIF reached an all-time high of $4.83. During that crazy time, WIF seemed unstoppable. Almost every crypto community was discussing this Shiba Inu wearing a pink hat. Ansem's influence, the community's enthusiasm, and the market's FOMO sentiment combined perfectly to propel WIF to its peak.

That was the golden age of WIF, where every holder believed they were witnessing the birth of a new Doge. The hat was not just a hat; it became a cultural symbol, an identity, and a belief 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 the liquidity out of the encryption market like a black hole. Following that in February, the tariff policy announced by Trump triggered macroeconomic uncertainty, causing a significant pullback in the encryption market. Among them, the decline of meme coins was particularly severe. As of today, although mainstream coins like BTC, ETH, and SOL have returned to high positions, most meme coins are still struggling in the depths of a pullback.

The deadliest blow came in April 2025. It all started with false hopes at the beginning of the year - on January 29, the Dogwifhat official account released a long-awaited teaser for the Las Vegas Sphere project, instantly igniting community enthusiasm, with WIF skyrocketing 34% in a week. However, the good times didn't last long; the official department of Las Vegas Sphere quickly issued a statement, clearly stating that "there has never been any commercial cooperation discussions with any encryption project." This cold water was thoroughly poured, 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 disclosure of the use of the raised funds. The trust crisis spread like a virus.

After nearly a year of waiting, on April 1, 2025, Edward, one of the initiators of The Sphere project, finally announced the official abandonment of the project and the start of refunds. Nearly $700,000 in fundraising, countless days and nights of anticipation, ultimately turned into a mirage. At this time, the WIF price had dropped to a low of $0.42. After the news of the project's abandonment broke, WIF plummeted again, setting a new low of $0.3 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.

What's worse is that Ansem's voice began to fade away. This KOL, who used to mention WIF every day, gradually shifted attention to other projects. After months of stagnation, WIF seemed to have disappeared from social media. The once overwhelming presence of doge memes vanished, the enthusiastic community discussions quieted down, and even the most loyal supporters began to switch sides.

At the same time, other meme coins are making great strides in their respective tracks:

• Doge remains the unshakable king. Every new meme aspires to become and surpass Doge. Elon Musk has never stopped interacting with Doge; he has already become Doge's best ambassador.
• Pepe has occupied another high ground with its classic frog image. Pepe has become part of internet language with its vast meme ecosystem.
• Pengu is backed by a strong NFT community and has also gained favor from Wall Street institutions. Pengu is committed to expanding the web2 ecosystem and recently announced a collaboration with a Chinese trendy IP consumer goods company. At the same time, they are also active on multiple social media platforms.

These successful meme coins share a common characteristic: multidimensional vitality. They either have the support of representative KOLs, possess strong community creativity, or have gained institutional recognition. The key point is that they have established a diversified communication network that will not collapse due to the disappearance of a single support.

In contrast, the problems with WIF are obvious. It overly 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 scarcity of attention, once you start being forgotten, it is almost an impossible task to return to the spotlight. WIF is undergoing 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

"Pulling the market up 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 have been simplified into one number: price.

Prices are rising, everything is right. The community is active, KOLs are recommending it one after another, and new holders are constantly pouring in, starting a positive cycle. When prices fall, all problems will be exposed. The community begins internal strife, KOLs quietly leave, panic spreads, and the death spiral follows.

For WIF, it is facing two fatal problems:

First, no longer remembered. In the world of encryption, the flow of time is tenfold or even a hundredfold compared to the real world. Hot topics from three months ago are ancient history here. When Ansem no longer mentions WIF, when the community stops creating new content, and when trading volume begins to shrink, WIF shifts from a "present continuous tense" to a "past perfect tense." In this market that is forever chasing the next opportunity for wealth, no one will be interested in history.

Second, it has lost the allure of wealth creation. The fundraising failure of The Sphere is not just a marketing setback; it reveals a harsh 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, new capital cannot be attracted. This is an intractable dilemma.

The deeper truth is that in this era dominated by the 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 destroy 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, and then 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.

At the moment the auction hammer falls, it may be the last footnote that WIF leaves 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, and now it seeks meaning through an auction.

But this ending precisely confirms our initial viewpoint: in the world of Web3, being forgotten is the real death. Hats can be auctioned, collected, and placed in the display case of a certain museum. However, WIF, as a meme, a cultural symbol, and a cryptocurrency, has gradually lost its popularity. Not because there were issues with the code, 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 myths of wealth are circulated. In this never-ending cycle, only those projects that can continuously capture people's minds will survive. The rest, no matter how glorious they once were, will be washed away by the torrent of time.

Interestingly, NFTs, as products of the previous era, have demonstrated a stronger vitality in this current cycle dominated by meme coins. Even during the NFT winter, certain well-known projects can still generate topics through occasional IP licensing news, and there are instances of sky-high transactions making headlines. They also regain public attention through 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 profit.

In contrast, meme coins are mostly products of wild growth. They often lack a clear team structure, have no long-term business plan, and are even more