An NFT of the photo that inspired Dogecoin just sold for $4M

That picture of a dog staring into the camera in formal posture.. you know, the one that sparked the Doge meme? Someone just sold it for millions in Ether.

Dogecoin has seen significant attention in 2021 in tandem with its dramatic price rise. Capitalizing on this rise in attention, someone sold a non-fungible token (NFT) of the picture on which the Dogecoin (DOGE) cryptocurrency was based. 

“The original image that started it all,” read the description of the NFT, sold on very.auction. “This photo of the Shiba Inu ‘Kabosu’ was taken by her owner Atsuko Sato on February 13th, 2010,” the description explains, adding:

“After sharing it to her personal blog alongside the series of other famous images under the title ‘Taking a walk with Kabosu-chan,’ these photos went on to kickstart the Doge meme and have circulated the web ever since — none more iconic than this picture.”

The NFT was minted by a user named @kabosumama on May 31, according to the auction site. The first bid landed on June 8 from a user willing to pay 6.5 Ethereum (ETH) for the piece. Bidding escalated from there. The winning bid of 1,696.90 ETH — over $4M at time of publication — was wagered on June 11.

Related: Nifty News: Doge NFTs much wow, Paris Hilton is an NFT advisor, NFT game raises $3M

Topping above $0.70 per coin, Dogecoin’s price has risen substantially in 2021. The asset, however, has fallen notably since then, in line with the rest of the crypto market recently, trading at roughly $0.31 as of time of publication.

Elon Musk, the self-proclaimed CEO of Dogecoin, has posted a number of Dogecoin-related tweets in recent months. Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus created the asset in 2013 as a meme-based crypto parody.