A South Korean Instagram user announced that the Shiba Inu featured in the “Dogwifhat” meme, named Achi, was their pet. To celebrate, they planned to auction an NFT of the original photo of Achi wearing a woven beanie on the Ethereum blockchain.
The user’s Instagram profile has consistently posted photos of Achi in various woven clothing for the past five years. They also posted the famous “Dogwifhat” photo itself in December 2018, almost a year before it went viral online. Partners of the Achi NFT auction have confirmed that the user has been verified as Achi’s true parent. At writing, Dogwifhat (WIF)‘s market capitalization is almost $3 billion, while the current bid for the Achi NFT is 55 ETH, around $197,800.
Several members of the WIF community and other Solana users expressed disappointment that the Achi NFT auction was not partnered with the WIF team. The new Achi NFT is minted as an Ethereum NFT and is currently up for auction on the Ethereum NFT platform Foundation.
Achi’s parents previously attempted to work with the Solana community, partnering to launch a memecoin called ACHI, but the experience ended in a rug pull. As a result, they opted to partner with Feisty DAO for the NFT auction.
Despite the community’s frustration, it appears that the WIF community has done little to reach out to Achi’s family. WIF launched in December, and as of a few weeks ago, Achi’s parents had reportedly never heard from anyone in the community. Path, the Feisty DAO member behind the NFT auction, said he is open to re-minting the NFT on Solana if there is interest. However, he has not yet received any inquiries from WIF community members.