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

On August 5, 2025, an ordinary pink knitted hat will be auctioned. This hat was the symbol of Dogwifhat (WIF), a meme coin that briefly became popular in the encryption world. In November 2024, it represented a digital asset with a market value of over $4 billion, and its community even raised nearly $700,000 to project the Shiba Inu image wearing this hat onto the giant sphere screen at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

On March 18, 2024, this "Shiba Inu with a Hat" was minted as an NFT and sold on an auction platform for a high price of 1210.759 ETH (approximately 4.3 million USD), becoming the second highest auction item on the platform at that time.

However, less than a year later, this hat will once again go up for auction, but this time it has garnered little attention. In the broader context of the NFT craze retreating and the market being sluggish, the former Meme top-tier has experienced a silent cold shoulder. WIF, as a representative of the time-honored Meme coins, finds itself in an even more difficult situation. After the auction news was announced on August 1, it failed to stir any ripples on social media.

From being the focus of everyone's attention to being ignored by all, the story of WIF reveals a harsh reality: in the world of Web3, being forgotten is the true death.

The Rise of WIF

At the end of 2023, a simple photo began circulating on encryption social media: 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 opinion leaders in the encryption field, a miracle occurred when he began to frequently mention this "doge" on social media. Each of his posts acted like a stimulant injected into the market, propelling WIF from an obscure meme coin to the center stage of the encryption world.

The rise of WIF is astonishing—within just 81 days, its market value surpassed the $1 billion mark. The enthusiasm of the community has exceeded everyone’s imagination. They are not satisfied with simply spreading the image of the Shiba Inu online; they 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 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, the crowdfunding campaign, originally aimed at $650,000, was achieved in just a few days and ultimately exceeded with nearly $700,000. Community members generously contributed, believing that this is not just a marketing campaign, but a key step for WIF to enter the mainstream. Excited discussions filled social media, with everyone counting 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 period, WIF seemed unstoppable. Almost every encryption community was discussing this Shiba Inu wearing a pink hat. Ansem's influence, the enthusiasm of the community, and the market's FOMO sentiment 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 not just a hat; it became a cultural symbol, an identity recognition, 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, absorbing the liquidity of the encryption market like a black hole. Soon after, 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 most devastating blow came in April 2025. It all started with false hopes at the beginning of the year—on January 29, the official social media account of Dogwifhat released a long-awaited teaser for the Las Vegas Sphere project, instantly igniting enthusiasm within the community, and WIF surged by 34% within a week. However, the good times didn't last long; the official department of Las Vegas Sphere quickly released a statement, clearly stating that "we have never had any commercial cooperation discussions with any encryption projects." This bucket of cold water completely extinguished the excitement, and after the denial was issued, 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 funds raised. The crisis of trust spread like a virus.

After nearly a year of agonizing wait, 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 to nothing. At this time, the price of WIF had dropped to a low of $0.42, and after the news of the project's abandonment broke, WIF plummeted again, setting 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 chosen to give up.

What made matters worse was that Ansem's voice began to fade. This once influential figure who mentioned WIF every day gradually turned his attention to other projects. After months of stagnation, WIF seemed to have disappeared from social media. The once overwhelming influx of Shiba Inu memes was gone, passionate community discussions fell silent, and even the most loyal supporters began to shift their allegiances.

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. The CEO of Tesla has never stopped interacting with Doge, and he has long become the best spokesperson for Doge.
• Pepe has occupied another high ground with its classic frog image. Pepe has become a part of internet language thanks to its vast ecosystem of memes.
• Pengu has the strong backing of a well-known NFT project's community and has also gained favor with Wall Street institutions. Pengu is committed to expanding the web2 ecosystem and recently announced a partnership with a Chinese trendy IP consumer goods company. At the same time, they are active on multiple social media platforms.

These successful meme coins share a common characteristic: multidimensional vitality. They either have the support of representative opinion leaders, possess strong community creation capabilities, 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 relies too heavily on Ansem's personal influence, has not established its own content ecosystem, lacks innovative mechanisms, and has failed to gain favor from institutions. When the initial hype subsided, it had no support system to rely on.

In this era of extreme scarcity of attention, once you start to be forgotten, it is almost an impossible task to return to the spotlight. WIF is experiencing 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 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 rise, everything is right. The community is active, opinion leaders are vying to recommend, and new holders are continuously pouring in, initiating a positive cycle. Prices fall, and all problems are exposed. The community begins to infight, opinion leaders quietly leave, panic spreads, and the death spiral follows.

For WIF, it is facing two fatal issues:

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

Second, it has lost the attractiveness of wealth creation. The fundraising failure of The Sphere is not just a marketing setback, but also exposes a harsh reality: when prices fall, even the most loyal community members become cautious. Without new capital inflow, there is no impetus for price increases; without price increases, new capital cannot be attracted. This is an unsolvable dilemma.

The deeper truth is that in this era dominated by attention economy, the life and death of meme coins often hinge on a single thought. A social media post can create a hundredfold coin, while 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 ground.

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 left by WIF in the history of encryption. In a sense, the fate of this hat is quite ironic - it once represented tens of billions of dollars in market value, symbolizing the dreams of a community, and now it seeks to find its meaning of existence through auction.

But this ending precisely validates our initial viewpoint: in the world of Web3, being forgotten is the real 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 the code had issues, 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 myths of wealth circulate. In this never-ending cycle, only those projects that can continuously occupy people's minds will 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 even stronger vitality in this cycle dominated by meme coins. Even during the NFT winter, well-known NFT projects can still rely on