Dogecoin NFT Community to Honor Shiba Inu Dog with Commemorative Statue in Japan

The Dogecoin community is funding the construction of a bronze statue in Japan depicting Kabosu – the Shiba Inu dog associated with the infamous Doge internet meme.

Per a press release from The Dogecoin Foundation last year, Kabosu fans crowdfunding in early November 2022 to fund the statue’s construction, and had already reached their goal of $42,069 within 72 hours. However, FTX’s implosion and the crypto market crash put those plans to a temporary halt, bringing the fundraiser back under its donation target.

Nevertheless, the statue is now prepared for unveiling on November 2 – Kabosu’s 18th birthday. It will be located in Sakura Furusato Square, where the dog’s parent often takes it for walks.

“We’ve been operating for over two years, bringing Doge to places she’s never been, including Hollywood, EDM bangers and space (The Doge NFT going on a SpaceX mission to moon),” said PleasrDAO’s tridog in an email to CoinDesk.

PleasrDAO is a group of NFT collectors purchasing high-priced NFTs and building communities around them, such as “Own the Doge” – a group that donates to charities around the world.

“Our goal is to become THE Doge gathering place online for all of the Doge and meme community,” added tridog. The group even wants to place a statue of Kabosu on the moon one day.

Celebrating the statue’s unveiling, the community plans to hold interactive events, where attendees can win certain privileges depending on their NFT holdings.

Own the Doge is even working on a documentary celebrating Kabosu’s life, and tracking the rise of Doge as a meme.

Announcing THE Doge Documentary!

It’s FINALLY time to celebrate nearly 2 decades of #Doge & @Kabosumama

This will be the FIRST EVER feature length film about Doge when completed.

Here's a never-before-seen sneak peek: pic.twitter.com/cnTeMrwmpT

— tri (@tridog) April 10, 2023

The Role of Doge in Crypto

Doge has inspired a plethora of popular cryptocurrencies, beginning with Dogecoin (DOGE) in 2013 before ushering in coins like Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Floki Inu (FLOKI) in later years.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has made himself something of a leader within the Dogecoin community, adopting it as his favorite cryptocurrency and promoting it as a superior way of transacting compared to Bitcoin (BTC). The billionaire’s social media activity often has a substantial effect on DOGE’s day-to-day price movements.

Dogecoin is now the tenth largest crypto by market cap, as well as the second most recognized crypto among the general population next to Bitcoin. Despite its popularity, its co-founders Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer are largely critical of crypto at large.