Own the DOGE, the group behind the original Doge meme's intellectual property, has unveiled a new meme coin named Cocoro (COCORO), launched on Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network developed by Coinbase.
What Happened: The coin's debut coincided with a blog post from Atsuko Sato, the owner of the late Kabosu--the Shiba Inu that inspired Dogecoin--introducing her newly adopted 10-year-old rescue dog, Cocoro. The IP around Cocoro is being officially managed by Own the Doge.
COCORO's market cap quickly surged past $80 million after its launch on Saturday, before dropping to around $46 million with a token price near $0.046. Tokenomics show 75% of the supply was locked into liquidity pools, 20% distributed via airdrops to DOG and NEIRO holders, and the remaining 5% allocated to a DAO reserve.
Also Read: Analyst Forecasts Mammoth 200% Surge for This Dogecoin and Shiba Inu Competitor
The project's pseudonymous CEO, Smoke, told the Decrypt that the team chose Base for its scalability and affordability. "We are big fans of what Base is doing for the ecosystem," said Smoke. "They have made it fast and affordable to build on Ethereum at scale." He added that DOG, their previous token, has over 1 million holders on Base.
Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE), launched in 2013 without Sato's approval, went on to become one of the most valuable meme coins. In contrast, Own the Doge (DOG) was built after securing the rights to the original Doge meme photo in 2021, giving it a formal IP foundation.
Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) and Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD) are notable platforms with meme coin exposure. Investors may also look to ETFs like ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (NYSE:BITO) or Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (NASDAQ:WGMI) for broader crypto-related plays.
Why It Matters: Following Cocoro's launch, DOG jumped 25% in value, per CoinGecko data. Meanwhile, NEIRO--another meme token based on a dog adopted by Sato last year--dropped 14% after Cocoro's release. Though the NEIRO token won a DAO vote for official backing, a formal agreement has yet to be signed.
The Cocoro launch marks a shift in how meme coins tied to Sato's dogs are introduced, with a deliberate attempt to create official pathways and IP clarity around future projects.
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