WIF Falls from the Throne: The Life and Death of Meme Coins in the Attention Economy

Author: June, TechFlow

On August 5, 2025, a pink knitted hat will be auctioned.

It's not some designer item, nor a historical artifact—it's the Dogwifhat (WIF) logo, the hat worn by the Shiba Inu that once took the crypto world by storm. As of November 2024, the hat was still the symbol of a meme coin with a market capitalization exceeding $4 billion. The community even raised nearly $700,000 to project an image of the Shiba Inu wearing it onto The Sphere in Las Vegas.

Earlier, on March 18, 2024, this "Shiba Inu in a Hat" was minted as an NFT and listed for auction on the Foundation platform. Ultimately, it was purchased by GCR, one of the most prominent traders in the cryptocurrency space, for 1,210,759 ETH (approximately $4.3 million), becoming the second-highest-priced auction item on Foundation at the time.

At that moment, no one could have imagined that the hat would be auctioned off again less than a year later, this time to few interest. With the NFT narrative shattered and the market stagnant, the once-popular meme was facing a period of silent indifference. And WIF, a representative old meme, fared even worse. After the auction announcement on August 1st, it barely registered a single ripple on Twitter.

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

The hat is about to be auctioned off, and perhaps this will be WIF's final mark in crypto history. But its story is worth pondering for every project fighting in this battleground for attention.

The rise of WIF

In late 2023, a simple photo began circulating on Crypto Twitter: a Shiba Inu wearing a pink knitted hat. No one could have predicted that this seemingly random combination would create billions of dollars in market capitalization in the following months.

WIF's explosive growth is inseparable from a key figure: Ansem. As one of the most influential KOLs in the crypto space, when he began frequently mentioning the "hatted dog" on Twitter, a miracle occurred. Each of his tweets was like a stimulant injected into the market, propelling WIF from an obscure meme coin to center stage in the crypto world.

The speed of WIF's rise was astonishing—in just 81 days, its market capitalization surpassed $1 billion. The community's enthusiasm was beyond anyone's imagination. Not content with simply spreading the image of the Dog in the Hat online, they wanted to do something unprecedented: project WIF onto The Sphere in Las Vegas. This spherical LED screen, the world's largest, is passed by millions daily. If the Dog in the Hat could appear on it, it would be a truly iconic moment in the meme coin's history.

In March 2024, the original crowdfunding goal of $650,000 was reached in just a few days, ultimately exceeding it by nearly $700,000. Community members generously contributed, believing this was more than just a marketing campaign; it was a crucial step for WIF to go mainstream. Twitter was abuzz with excitement, with everyone counting down the days until the Hat Dog would light up the Las Vegas sky.

On March 31, 2024, after the crowdfunding for The Sphere project concluded, market sentiment reached its peak, and WIF reached an all-time high of $4.83. During that frenzied period, WIF seemed omnipotent. Almost every crypto community was discussing the Shiba Inu in a pink hat. Ansem's influence, the community's enthusiasm, and the market's fear of loss (FOMO) perfectly combined to propel WIF to its peak.

That was the golden age of WIF, when every holder believed they were witnessing the birth of a new Doge. The hat was more than just a hat; it became a cultural symbol, a form of identity, and a belief in the infinite possibilities of the crypto world.

WIF's Las Vegas Nightmare

Fate took a sudden turn. In January 2025, the Trump meme emerged, sucking liquidity from the crypto market like a black hole. Then, in February, President Trump's tariff announcement triggered macroeconomic uncertainty, leading to a sharp correction in the crypto market. Meme coins suffered particularly drastic declines. To this day, while mainstream coins like BTC, ETH, and SOL have returned to their highs, most meme coins are still struggling in the quagmire of a deep correction.

The most devastating blow came in April 2025. It all started with false hope at the beginning of the year. On January 29th, the official Dogwifhat X account released a preview of the long-awaited Las Vegas Sphere project, instantly igniting community enthusiasm and sending WIF prices soaring 34% within a week. However, the good times were short-lived. Las Vegas Sphere officials quickly issued a statement, explicitly stating that they had "never discussed commercial collaboration with any cryptocurrency project." This was a complete cold shoulder, and after the denial was released, WIF prices plummeted nearly 10% within an hour.

To make matters worse, serious divisions began to emerge within the community. Some members questioned the project's transparency and strongly demanded that details of the fundraising funds be disclosed. The crisis of trust spread like a virus.

After nearly a year of agonizing waiting, on April 1, 2025, Edward, one of the initiators of The Sphere, finally announced the project's abandonment and began refunding funds. Nearly $700,000 in fundraising, countless days and nights of anticipation, ultimately vanished. By then, the price of WIF had plummeted to a low of $0.42. Following the news of the project's abandonment, WIF plummeted further, hitting a new year-low of $0.3. This final straw completely crushed the community's confidence. Even the planning team behind WIF seemed to have given up.

To make matters worse, Ansem's voice began to fade. The influencer who once mentioned WIF daily gradually shifted his focus to other projects. After months of doldrums, WIF seemed to vanish from Twitter. The once ubiquitous "hat-dog" memes disappeared, the lively community discussions quieted, and even its most loyal supporters began to shift sides.

Meanwhile, other meme coins are making great strides in their respective fields:

• Doge remains the undisputed king. Every new meme aspires to be and surpass Doge. Elon Musk has never stopped interacting with Doge and has long been its best spokesperson.
• Pepe has taken another high ground with his iconic frog image. With his vast ecosystem of memes, Pepe has become part of the internet vernacular.
• Pengu, backed by the powerful NFT community of Pudgy Penguins, has garnered the attention of Wall Street institutions like VanEck. Pengu is committed to expanding the web2 ecosystem and recently announced a partnership with China's Suplay, a trendy IP consumer goods company. They are also active on multiple platforms, including Telegram, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

These successful meme coins all share a common trait: multi-dimensional vitality. They either have the support of iconic influencers (KOLs), strong community creative capabilities, or institutional recognition. Crucially, they have established diverse distribution networks, making them immune to collapse due to the loss of a single supporter.

By comparison, WIF's problems were clear. It relied too heavily on Ansem's personal influence, failed to establish its own content ecosystem, lacked innovative mechanisms, and failed to attract institutional attention. When the initial hype faded, it was left without any support system to fall back on.

In this age of scarce attention, once you've been forgotten, it's almost impossible to get back into the spotlight. WIF is going through this brutal process—from the spotlight to obscurity in just a few months.

The cruel truth of the crypto world

Pumping the market is justice. While this phrase may sound vulgar, it accurately summarizes the essence of this market. In the traditional financial world, we talk about fundamentals, value investing, and long-termism. But in the world of meme coins, all these concepts are simplified to a single number: price.

When the price rises, everything is going well. The community becomes active, KOLs rush to recommend the product, and new holders flock in, setting the stage for a positive cycle. When the price drops, all the problems become apparent. Community infighting sets in, KOLs quietly leave, panic spreads, and a death spiral ensues.

WIF is facing two fatal problems:

First, it's no longer remembered. Time in the crypto world flows ten or even a hundred times faster than in the real world. What was a hot topic three months ago is already ancient history here. When Ansem stopped mentioning WIF, when the community stopped creating new content, and when trading volume began to decline, WIF went from being a "present continuous tense" to a "past perfect tense." And in a market that's always chasing the next big opportunity, no one has any interest in history.

Second, the appeal of the wealth-creating effect has been lost. The Sphere's failed fundraising wasn't just a marketing setback; it also exposed a harsh reality: when prices fall, even the most loyal community members become cautious. Without new capital inflows, there's no incentive for prices to rise; without price increases, there's no way to attract new capital. This is an unsolvable dilemma.

The deeper truth is that in this age of the attention economy, the life and death of a meme coin often hangs in the balance of a thought. A single tweet can create a coin that multiplies its value, while a single failure can undo all the hard work. There's no gradual decline here, only a precipitous collapse.

The story of WIF is a microcosm of countless other meme coins. Like shooting stars, they streak across the crypto world, briefly illuminating a corner before quickly disappearing into darkness. A lucky few rise to stardom, but the majority are forced to accept oblivion.

This is the law of survival in the crypto world: stay relevant or die. There is no in between.

Being forgotten is the real death

On August 5, that pink knitted hat will find its new owner.

The moment the auction hammer falls may be the final footnote left by WIF in the history of cryptocurrencies. In a sense, the fate of this hat is quite ironic - it once represented a market value of billions of dollars and symbolized the dreams of a community, but now it has to find the meaning of its existence through auction.

This outcome, however, precisely reinforces our opening point: in the Web3 world, oblivion is the truest form of death. Hats can be auctioned, collected, and placed in museum cabinets. But WIF, as a meme, a cultural symbol, and a cryptocurrency, has gradually faded. This isn't due to code issues or hacking, but simply because people no longer remember it.

We live in an era where attention is more scarce than gold. Every day, new projects are born, new stories are told, and new myths of wealth are circulated. In this endless 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, a product of a previous era, have shown even greater vitality in this cycle dominated by meme coins. Even during the NFT winter, BAYC still managed to generate buzz with occasional IP licensing news, CryptoPunks occasionally saw sky-high sales, and Pudgy Penguins resurfaced with the release of physical toys. These projects' teams are still working, and their communities remain resilient. They have successfully carved out a niche and continue to generate real commercial value and profits.

In contrast, meme coins are mostly products of wild growth. They often lack clear team structures and long-term business plans, making it even more difficult for them to establish deep partnerships with mainstream brands. Their small team backgrounds make it harder for meme coin projects to gain recognition in the traditional business world and resonate widely beyond their communities. When the hype fades, these projects often lack the resources and capabilities to maintain their long-term brand value.

The story of WIF streaked across the crypto world like a meteor, briefly illuminating a corner before quickly disappearing into darkness. The only certainty is that in this consensus-driven world, memory is the most valuable asset. When no one remembers your name anymore, you're truly dead.

This is the life and death of a meme coin in the crypto world.