Renowned for its endearing memes, unique language, and grand tributes to cherished pets, the vast Shiba Inu-themed meme coin realm usually embodies a cozy coexistence.
However, recent tensions between users within the Solana ecosystem—home to the skyrocketing Dogwifhat (WIF) meme coin—and the owners of the real-life South Korean dog that inspired the token may have stirred up some trouble in this pet paradise.
On Thursday, a South Korean Instagram user revealed that the Shiba Inu featured in the “Dogwifhat” meme, named Achi, was indeed their pet. To honor Achi, they announced plans to auction an NFT of the original, iconic photo of Achi sporting a woven beanie, which they claimed to have handcrafted for the dog. The user’s Instagram profile has been consistently sharing images of a Shiba Inu dressed in various woven garments for the past five years, ever since the dog was a puppy. They even posted the famous “Dogwifhat” photo itself in December 2018, nearly a year before it gained viral fame online. Partners of the Achi NFT auction confirmed that the user is indeed Achi’s true owner.
However, upon the announcement of the NFT photo auction, some members of the WIF community and other Solana users expressed discontent that Achi’s owners had chosen to collaborate with Feisty DAO—an online community with prior experience in acquiring and fractionalizing Shiba Inu-related NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain—for the Achi NFT instead of partnering with the WIF team on Solana.
The new Achi NFT will be minted as an Ethereum NFT and is currently being auctioned on the Ethereum NFT platform Foundation, with the bidding ending on Monday. As of now, the highest bid stands at 50 ETH, equivalent to over $182,000.
The complaints regarding the NFT drop—many of which urged Achi’s owners to collaborate with the WIF team on Solana—escalated to the point where the pet owners publicly requested an end to the barrage.
However, it seems that Achi’s owners had previously attempted to collaborate with Solana users—with unfavorable outcomes. A meme coin called ACHI emerged following the success of WIF but allegedly rug-pulled the project shortly after its launch, despite having the support of Achi’s parents. Consequently, Achi’s owners opted to partner with Feisty DAO for the NFT auction, given the DAO’s successful track record in launching NFT sales.
Despite the frustration expressed by some members of the WIF community regarding the lack of coordination between Achi’s owners and the meme coin community, there seems to have been little to no effort made by the community to reach out to the dog’s family, whose image propelled their token to a multi-billion dollar valuation.
While WIF’s market capitalization exceeds $3 billion, Achi’s parents’ NFT of the original photo, upon which WIF is based, currently has a bid worth approximately $182,000.
Path, the Feisty DAO member organizing the NFT photo auction, expressed willingness to consider re-minting the NFT on Solana if there was interest from the Solana community. He reached out to Ansem, a prominent member of the WIF community, regarding the Achi NFT, but received no interest. Path has yet to hear from anyone else associated with WIF.
