The team responsible for the successful crowdfunding effort in March, which amassed close to $700,000, to display the mascot of Solana memecoin Dogwifhat (WIF) on the Las Vegas Sphere, remains optimistic about the looming advertising agreement despite the protracted delay.
Mihir, one of the five organizers listed on the official ‘sphere wif hat’ website, expressed to Cointelegraph that he holds a “90% confidence” in the likelihood of the campaign to showcase the mascot on the Las Vegas sphere for an entire week, moving forward.
Mihir reported that representatives from the Sphere have introduced new “crypto-specific” terms after learning about the campaign, and internal discussions have been ongoing to formulate their crypto-related policies in response to this initiative. “We are still collaborating with them to align with their criteria and requirements,” he added.
He refrained from delving into specific details of the negotiations with the Sphere due to concerns that any disclosure might influence ongoing discussions or spark unnecessary speculation on the price of WIF. Mihir acknowledged there’s a slight chance the deal could collapse, based on uncertainties around demands that the WIF community or partnering companies may not consent to, but as of now, this has not been the case.
A spokesperson for The Sphere declined to comment.
Supporters of Dogwifhat who contributed to the crowdfunding endeavor have expressed their anxieties in recent weeks, particularly regarding the lack of updates from the organizers about the progress and the potential handling of their donated funds in the event that the discussions dissolve.
Mihir assured that all contributions would be refunded to donors should the negotiations fail for any reason, underscoring a public announcement he made in the official Dogwifhat Telegram group on June 18. “The Sphere is still in progress. These processes take time, and we are voluntarily dedicating our time to promote the meme,” he conveyed.
Mihir also addressed the speculation that the team might not be permitted to use the official image of the Wif mascot, a dog named Achi, due to copyright concerns. He stated, “The image may or may not have been copyrighted, but we are engaging with the dog owners on other ventures, and they are supportive of the meme.”
On March 18, pseudonymous crypto trader Gigantic Rebirth, also known as GCR, acquired a one-of-one NFT of the original Achi image for $4.3 million. Mihir disclosed ongoing communication between him and other sphere wif hat team members with Achi’s owners, mentioning that the owners even loaned them a re-creation of the original pink knitted hat from the image.
The individuals organizing the crowdfunding campaign include prominent crypto trader Ansem and four other pseudonymous members of the WIF community, whose Twitter handles are publicly available on the official campaign website.
Despite a decline of over 62% from its all-time high of $4.83 on March 31, WIF currently stands as the 54th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. At the time of writing, WIF is trading at $1.85 and boasts a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, signifying a remarkable rise of well over 1,000,000% from its launch in late November last year.