An NFT of the photo of a dog a pink knit hat that served as the inspiration for the meme coin Dogwifhat has sold for a reported $4.3 million.
Someone who goes by GiganticRebirth, or GCR, won the bid, according to Coindesk. GiganticRebirth is an influential trader in the crypto space.
It took an hour-long bidding war that brought the price up from the initial 0.15 Ethereum to the eventual 1,210 Ethereum the NFT sold for, which runs upwards of $4 million, Coindesk reported. GCR used the alias “PleasrDAO” and went up against the crypto project Memeland.
🚨SOLD🚨
On November 17, 2018, Achi’s owners captured him in an endearing hat on camera. It went viral, ultimately becoming a meme and mascot for the meme coin $wif.
Today, that image was collected by Gigantic Rebirth Ventures on FND for 1,210.759 ETH (4.3 Mil)! pic.twitter.com/8jV4szdPg1
— Rob | Foundation (@RDToTheMoon) March 18, 2024
The image took off in December 2019, according to Know Your Meme. But the photo appears to have been taken in 2018 originally, according to an X account for a project manager with Foundation, which hosted the auction.
“On November 17, 2018, Achi’s owners captured him in an endearing hat on camera. It went viral, ultimately becoming a meme and mascot for the meme coin $wif,” the X post reads. “Today, that image was collected by Gigantic Rebirth Ventures on FND for 1,210.759 ETH (4.3 Mil)!”
Recently, fans of the meme and the meme coin is spurred raised almost $700,000 in a campaign to put the image on the Sphere in Las Vegas, Quartz reported.
The NFT auction seems to have boosted the Dogwifhat meme coin with Coindesk reporting a 10 percent jump in the price of WIF. Many have speculated that rise comes from the association with GiganticRebirth specifically, who is followed closely in the crypto space despite their anonymous identity for their well placed bets. Still, the NFT auction is a bold bet after many NFTs have lost their value.
It remains unclear what the photographed dog, Achi, thinks about their viral meme status and the auction. Achi resides in Korea according to The Block.
The incredible success of this NFT runs counter to the general trend, which has seen the value of a vast majority of NFTs plummet.