RIP Kabosu, the celebrity canine who became the face of Dogecoin

• Kabosu, the Shiba Inu who became the face of Dogecoin, has died at the age of 18.
• Her quizzical expression went viral in 2010 and was later used as the cryptocurrency mascot. 
• Elon Musk was one of Dogecoin's biggest fans, and Kabosu briefly became the Twitter logo in 2023.

A diminutive Japanese dog who became the face of Dogecoin has died.

Kabosu, who inspired the viral Doge meme and became the face of the satirical cryptocurrency championed by Elon Musk, passed away on Friday at the age of 18, her owner said.

The Shiba Inu had been seriously ill with liver disease and leukemia since 2022.

"To all of you who loved Kabosu — on the morning of the 24th of May, Kabosu crossed the rainbow bridge," Kabosu's owner, Atsuko Sato, wrote on Instagram.

"She went very peacefully without suffering, as if falling asleep while feeling the warmth of my hands petting her."

"Thank you all so much for loving Kabosu all these years. I am certain that Kabosu was the happiest dog in the world."

Kabosu was adopted by Sato, who works as a teacher in Japan, in 2008 after she was abandoned by a puppy mill.

The puppy, who is named after a type of Japanese citrus fruit, shot to internet fame as a popular meme in 2010, before Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer decided to use her famously quizzical expression for their satirical cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

Despite starting out as a joke, Dogecoin saw a stratospheric rise in value during the crypto boom of the early 2020s, becoming one of the top 10 digital coins by market value in 2021.

The Shiba Inu-themed digital currency attracted some famous fans, including Elon Musk. The billionaire joked about Dogecoin on "SNL" and even briefly changed the Twitter home button to an image of Kabosu after buying the site in 2022.