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full screen The cryptocurrency dogecoin’s logo, built on a photo of the Japanese celebrity dog Kabuso, who has now passed away. Photo: Richard Drew/AP/TT
She became the face of the dogecoin cryptocurrency, inspired thousands of memes and had super entrepreneur Elon Musk among her admirers.
Spitz dog Kabosu has fallen asleep in his home in Narita, Japan.
“I think Kabo-san was the happiest dog in the world. And I was the happiest owner,” owner Atsuko Shato writes on her blog about the shiba, which she estimates was 18 years old.
The relocation dog Kabosu had been preschool teacher Atsuko Shato’s for two years when in 2010 Shato took the picture that became historic. Her fluffy dog was lying on the white couch with its front paws crossed and an expression that could be interpreted as a cute smile.
Shato published the image on his blog and the photograph went viral on the platform Reddit and countless so-called doge memes were created based on it.
The photo later became a digital work of art with an associated NFT – a kind of ownership certificate or contract that can be sold, bought or exchanged – valued at over the equivalent of 40 million kroner.
Kabosu’s portrait also inspired the cryptocurrency dogecoin, which Elon Musk called his favorite cryptocurrency.
In 2022, Kabosu suffered from leukemia and liver disease.