Dogwifhat is a meme based on a photo of a Shiba Inu named Achi wearing a pink knitted beanie. It started as a profile picture trend among gamers in 2019 and later became the basis for the WIF memecoin on Solana[4][2].

Where did Dogwifhat come from?

The original photo was posted on Instagram by user bangdddd on November 17, 2018[4]. The meme name and trend started in November 2019 when Fortnite player Issa used it as his Twitter profile picture and @Vapurly commented "Dogwifhat"[4].

What does Dogwifhat mean?

It literally means "dog with hat," written in the compressed, informal style common to internet culture. The name describes exactly what the image shows: a dog wearing a hat[6].

How do you use Dogwifhat?

The classic use is editing an image or logo onto the beanie area and setting it as your profile picture. In crypto circles, "dogwifhat" or "WIF" refers to the Solana-based memecoin[4][3].

Is Dogwifhat still popular?

The memecoin WIF listed on major exchanges including Binance, Coinbase, and Robinhood as of 2024, and the token maintained an active trading community[3]. The original profile picture format sees occasional revivals.

Who is the dog in Dogwifhat?

The dog is a Shiba Inu named Achi, owned by Instagram user bangdddd, who posted the original photos in November 2018[4].

What is the WIF token?

WIF is a Solana-based SPL token launched on December 13, 2023, inspired by the dogwifhat meme. It has a fixed supply of approximately 998.93 million tokens with no team or founder allocation[1][2].

What was Dogwifhat's all-time high price?

WIF reached an all-time high of $4.83 in late March 2024, with a market capitalization exceeding $3 billion[3][2].

Who promoted the Dogwifhat crypto?

Key promoters included BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, crypto traders Ansem and Hsaka, and Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal, who disclosed holding less than 2% of the supply[2].

What was the Las Vegas Sphere campaign?

The dogwifhat community crowdfunded over $700,000 (against a $50,000 goal) to display the meme image on the Las Vegas Sphere, with Ansem leading the effort and Phantom Wallet promoting it[2].

How did eSports get involved with Dogwifhat?

Fortnite and Rocket League players started the trend in November 2019. By late December, major eSports organizations including Rogue, G2 Esports, and Cloud9 had changed their Twitter profile pictures to custom dogwifhat edits[4].

Is Dogwifhat related to Dogecoin?

Both feature Shiba Inu dogs and exist in meme culture, and Dogecoin was cited as a primary inspiration for WIF's creation[2]. However, they are separate memes and separate cryptocurrencies on different blockchains.

dogwifhat

2018Profile picture trend / memecoin mascotactive

Also known as: WIF · Dog Wif Hat · $WIF

Dogwifhat is a 2019 profile picture meme of Shiba Inu Achi wearing a pink woven beanie, adopted by Fortnite and Rocket League players before becoming the mascot of Solana's WIF memecoin.

Dogwifhat is an internet meme based on a photograph of a Shiba Inu dog named Achi wearing a pink woven beanie. The image went viral in late 2019 when Fortnite and Rocket League players adopted it as a profile picture trend on Twitter, spawning the hashtags #dogwifhat and #dogwifhatgang. In December 2023, the meme crossed into crypto culture when a Solana-based memecoin called WIF launched around the image, eventually reaching a market cap above $3 billion in early 2024.

shiba inu memes cryptocurrency origin memes profile picture memes gaming

Overview

Dogwifhat is a photograph of a Shiba Inu named Achi sitting in what appears to be a pink knitted beanie pulled over its head. The image is inherently funny because of the dog's deadpan expression combined with the oversized hat. What started as a simple pet photo on Instagram turned into a coordinated profile picture movement across Twitter's gaming community, with users editing various logos and images onto the beanie. The meme later took on a second life as the mascot of one of 2024's biggest Solana memecoins.

On November 17, 2018, Instagram user bangdddd posted four photographs of their Shiba Inu dog Achi wearing a pink woven beanie4. The post picked up over 6,900 likes over the following years but didn't immediately go viral.

The meme identity formed about a year later. On November 6, 2019, professional Fortnite player Issa changed his Twitter profile picture to the third photo from bangdddd's set2. Twitter user @Vapurly commented on it with the word "Dogwifhat," coining the name that would stick4. On November 20, Fortnite streamer Vraxito also swapped his profile picture to the image4. That same day, Fortnite player Aqua tweeted "everyone join the dogwifhat gang," pulling in over 80 retweets and 2,400 likes2.

Origin & Background

Platform

Instagram (source photo), Twitter (viral spread)

Key People

bangdddd, Issa, @Vapurly

Date

2018 (original photo), 2019 (meme spread)

On November 17, 2018, Instagram user bangdddd posted four photographs of their Shiba Inu dog Achi wearing a pink woven beanie. The post picked up over 6,900 likes over the following years but didn't immediately go viral.

The meme identity formed about a year later. On November 6, 2019, professional Fortnite player Issa changed his Twitter profile picture to the third photo from bangdddd's set. Twitter user @Vapurly commented on it with the word "Dogwifhat," coining the name that would stick. On November 20, Fortnite streamer Vraxito also swapped his profile picture to the image. That same day, Fortnite player Aqua tweeted "everyone join the dogwifhat gang," pulling in over 80 retweets and 2,400 likes.

How It Spread

The profile picture trend spread rapidly through the competitive gaming scene on Twitter between late November and December 2019. Fortnite and Rocket League players were the early adopters, with dozens of users swapping their avatars to the beanie dog.

On December 6, 2019, Rocket League player Spoodah set the image as his profile picture and announced the start of a "dog wif hat movement". By late December, a wave of Rocket League players including @nxtsabo, @difeze, @nayzerrl, and others had joined in. On December 23, Rocket League player CR1MS1C posted a Woman Yelling at a Cat meme joking about how many people in the community had adopted the image. Starting December 24, CR1MS1C began creating custom edits, applying eSports logos, memes, and other images onto the beanie.

The trend hit critical mass around Christmas 2019. Twitter users started making "how many retweets" posts, daring major eSports organizations to adopt the image. Starting December 26, organizations including Rogue, G2 Esports, and Cloud9 all changed their profile pictures to custom dogwifhat edits. On December 27, YouTuber KEEMSTAR joined in. The hashtags #dogwifhat and #dogwifhatgang trended as more organizations and personalities piled on.

How to Use This Meme

The original dogwifhat meme is used primarily as a profile picture, often with custom edits:

Take the base image of Achi the Shiba Inu in the pink beanie

Use an image editor to place a logo, text, or another image onto the beanie area

Set it as your profile picture on Twitter/X and tag posts with #dogwifhat or #dogwifhatgang

Cultural Impact

Dogwifhat is one of the clearest examples of a meme-to-crypto pipeline. A photo of a dog in a hat, shared for laughs among gamers, became the mascot of a multi-billion dollar financial instrument four years later.

The Las Vegas Sphere campaign was a landmark moment for memecoin communities. Raising over $700,000 from grassroots donations to put a dog meme on one of the world's most visible digital billboards showed the financial mobilization power of crypto communities. Major Solana ecosystem players like Phantom Wallet backed the campaign.

WIF's rise also reflected the broader memecoin frenzy of 2023-2024, a period that saw meme-based tokens gain serious market capitalization on platforms like Solana's Pump.fun. The token's success with no team allocation or centralized control made it a poster child for community-driven crypto projects.

Full History

The dogwifhat meme had two distinct lives: a 2019 profile picture craze in the gaming community, and a 2023-2024 explosion as one of crypto's hottest memecoins.

The first wave was organic and playful. A handful of Fortnite pros changed their Twitter avatars to a goofy dog photo, and within weeks the entire competitive gaming scene on the platform was in on it. The editable nature of the beanie made it perfect for customization. CR1MS1C's edits, which placed team logos and other images onto the hat, gave organizations a way to participate without looking like they were trying too hard. By the end of December 2019, the trend had jumped from niche gaming circles to mainstream internet culture, with KEEMSTAR and major eSports brands all displaying some version of Achi in a hat.

The meme's second life began on December 13, 2023, when an anonymous team launched the Dogwifhat (WIF) token on the Solana blockchain at an opening price of roughly $0.001. Built as an SPL token (Solana's equivalent of Ethereum's ERC-20 standard), WIF had a fixed total supply of approximately 998.93 million tokens with no team or founder allocations. The early days were volatile, with the price swinging between $0.004 and $0.40 throughout December 2023 and January 2024.

Several high-profile crypto personalities helped amplify WIF's visibility. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes became an early and vocal supporter, sharing a photoshopped image of himself wearing a hat on Twitter with the caption "WIF Hat" in December 2023. On March 1, 2024, as the token approached $1, Hayes posted a chart captioned "Who is WIF me?". Crypto trader Ansem and analyst Hsaka also ran marketing campaigns for the token. Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal revealed on March 14 that he held less than 2% of WIF's total supply and called the ride "fun," noting the token had gained 1,600% in 90 days.

The community pulled off one of 2024's most memorable crypto stunts: a crowdfunding campaign to display the dogwifhat image on the Las Vegas Sphere. Led by Ansem, the campaign originally targeted $50,000 but raised over $700,000, with Solana ecosystem projects like Phantom Wallet helping promote the effort.

WIF hit an all-time high of $4.83 in late March 2024. At its peak, the token's market cap crossed $3 billion, making it the fourth most valuable memecoin behind only Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and PEPE. The price later pulled back significantly. Like most memecoins, WIF's value tracked social media sentiment and influencer attention more than any fundamental utility. The token listed on major exchanges including OKX, Binance, Coinbase, and Robinhood.

Fun Facts

The dog's real name is Achi, and the original photos were posted by Instagram user bangdddd in November 2018.

The name "Dogwifhat" was coined spontaneously by Twitter user @Vapurly as a comment on Issa's profile picture.

The Las Vegas Sphere crowdfund overshot its $50,000 goal by 14x, raising over $700,000.

WIF has a fully distributed token supply with no team or founder wallet, which is unusual for memecoins.

Arthur Hayes's early WIF promotion included photoshopping a hat onto his own picture, mirroring the original meme's profile picture format.

Derivatives & Variations

Custom beanie edits

— CR1MS1C and others created versions with eSports team logos (Rogue, G2, Cloud9) overlaid on the hat, turning the meme into a customizable avatar format[4].

WIF memecoin

— A Solana-based SPL token launched December 2023, reaching a $3 billion+ market cap and an all-time high of $4.83[2][3].

Las Vegas Sphere campaign

— A community crowdfunding effort that raised over $700,000 to display the dogwifhat image on the Las Vegas Sphere[2].

Frequently Asked Questions

References (6)

1
dogwifhat Price | wif Live Chart and Price Index | Yellow.comarticle
2
How Did Dogwifhat Go From a Meme to a $3 Billion Token?article
3
What is Dogwifhat (WIF) | OKXsocial
4
Dogwifhat - Know Your Memeencyclopedia
5
Meme coinencyclopedia
6
Dogwifhat - Urban Dictionarydictionary