The Meteor in the Encryption World: The Rise and Fall of WIF

On August 5, 2025, an ordinary pink knitted hat is about to be auctioned. This hat was the symbol of Dogwifhat (WIF), a Shiba Inu accessory that once swept the encryption world. In November 2024, it also represented a meme coin with a market value of over $4 billion, and the community even raised nearly $700,000 to project the hat-wearing Shiba Inu image onto a giant dome screen in Las Vegas.

On March 18, 2024, this "Shiba Inu with a Hat" was minted as an NFT and auctioned on the platform. It was ultimately purchased by a well-known encryption trader for approximately $4.3 million, becoming the second highest-priced item sold on the platform at that time.

At that time, no one would have thought that this hat would be auctioned again less than a year later, yet very few showed interest. In the context of the NFT craze retreating and the market being sluggish, the once popular Meme faced a silent cold shoulder. As a representative old-school Meme, WIF's situation was even more dire. After the auction news was announced, it even failed to stir a ripple on social media.

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

The auction of this hat may be the last mark left by WIF in the history of encryption. However, its story is worth reflecting on for every project struggling in this battlefield of attention.

The Rise of WIF

At the end of 2023, a simple photo began circulating in the encryption circle: 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. As one of the most influential opinion leaders in the encryption circle, a miracle happened when he began to frequently mention this "hat dog" on social media. Every message he sent was like an adrenaline shot injected into the market, propelling WIF from an obscure meme coin to the center stage of the crypto world.

The rise of WIF is astonishing—within just 81 days, its market value surpassed 1 billion dollars. The enthusiasm of the community exceeded everyone's imagination. They are not satisfied with merely spreading the image of Doge online; they want to do something unprecedented—project WIF onto the giant spherical screen in Las Vegas. This is the largest spherical LED screen in the world, with millions passing by every day. If Doge can appear on it, it will be the most iconic moment in the history of meme coins.

In March 2024, the crowdfunding campaign, originally aimed at $650,000, was achieved in just a few days and ultimately exceeded expectations by reaching nearly $700,000. Community members generously contributed, believing that this is not just a marketing campaign, but a crucial step for WIF to enter the mainstream. Social media is filled with excited discussions, with everyone counting down to the moment when the hat dog illuminates the Las Vegas night sky.

On March 31, 2024, after the completion of the giant dome project crowdfunding, market sentiment peaked, and WIF reached an all-time high price of $4.83. During that crazy period, WIF seemed to be unstoppable. Almost every crypto community was discussing this Shiba Inu wearing a pink hat. The influence of opinion leaders, the enthusiasm of the community, and the FOMO sentiment in the market perfectly combined to drive 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, a form of 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 liquidity from the encryption market like a black hole. Then in February, the tariff policy announced by Trump triggered macroeconomic uncertainty, 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 positions, 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 WIF account released the long-awaited teaser for the Las Vegas dome project, instantly igniting community enthusiasm, and WIF surged 34% within a week. However, the good times did not last long; the official department of the dome soon issued a statement clearly stating that "there has never been any commercial cooperation discussion 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 transparency of the project and strongly demanded a detailed account of the use of the fundraising funds. The trust crisis spread like a virus.

After nearly a year of painful waiting, on April 1, 2025, one of the initiators of the dome project finally announced the official abandonment of the project and the start of refunds. Nearly $700,000 in fundraising and countless days and nights of anticipation ultimately turned to dust. 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 $0.3 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 makes matters worse is that the voice of that opinion leader has started to fade. This KOL, who used to mention WIF every day, has gradually shifted their attention to other projects. After months of stagnation, WIF seems to have disappeared from social media. The once ubiquitous doge memes are gone, the fervent community discussions have quieted down, and even the most loyal supporters have started to shift their allegiance.

Meanwhile, 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. A certain tech mogul has never stopped interacting with Doge, and he has long become Doge's best spokesperson.
• Pepe has occupied another high ground with its classic frog image. Pepe has become part of the internet language with its vast ecosystem of memes.
• Pengu is backed by a strong NFT community and has gained favor with Wall Street institutions. Pengu is committed to expanding the web2 ecosystem and recently announced a collaboration with a 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 support from representative KOLs, possess strong community creation capabilities, or have gained institutional recognition. The key point is that they have established a diversified dissemination 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 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 almost impossible to return to the spotlight. WIF is undergoing this brutal process — from being the center of attention to being ignored, it only takes a few months.

The Harsh Truth of the Encryption World

Raising the market 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, and everything seems right. The community is active, KOLs are recommending it, and new holders are constantly pouring in, initiating a positive cycle. When prices fall, all problems will be exposed. The community begins to infight, KOLs quietly exit, panic spreads, and the death spiral follows.

For WIF, it is facing two fatal problems:

First, it is no longer remembered. In the world of encryption, the flow of time is ten or even a hundred times faster than in the real world. Hot topics from three months ago are already ancient history here. When opinion leaders no longer mention 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 always chasing the next opportunity for wealth, no one will be interested in history.

Second, it has lost the allure of wealth creation. The failure of the dome fundraising is not just a marketing setback; it exposes a harsh reality: when prices fall, even the most loyal community members become cautious. Without new capital inflows, there is no impetus for price increases; without price increases, there is no way to attract new capital. This is a conundrum with no solution.

The deeper truth is that in this era dominated by attention economy, the life and death of meme coins often hangs by a thread. A single message can create a hundredfold coin, and a single 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 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.

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 must seek its meaning of existence through an 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 a cryptocurrency, has gradually lost its popularity. Not because there was a problem 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. New projects are born every day, new stories are told, and new wealth myths are circulated. In this never-ending cycle, only those projects that can continuously occupy people's minds can survive. The others, 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 shown stronger vitality during this round of meme coin dominance. Even in the winter of NFTs, certain well-known projects can still generate buzz with occasional IP licensing news.