The dogwifhat (WIF) community has seen its “Sphere WIF hat” dream crushed after the fundraiser team announced that refunds for the project’s contributors had started. This follows the Sphere team’s February statement denying a deal to display the memecoin sensation in the largest LED screen in the world.
Dogwifhat On Las Vegas Sphere Dream Ends
On Monday, a “Sphere WIF hat” campaign organizer shared an update on the project’s status. In an X post, the dogwifhat investor, under the username “GamesMaster.wif,” stated that contributions are now being refunded after a year of working to take over the Las Vegas strip.
According to the post, the project organizers had allegedly signed contracts with The Sphere through a fashion partner, with everything “set to put the hat on the Sphere in Q1 with our classic guerrilla marketing style.”
However, announcing the news earlier this year “had unintended consequences,” seemingly leading their partner to back out. For context, on January 28, the dogwifhat official X account teased the long-awaited project with an image of their mascot in Las Vegas.
The picture included the cute dog with the Sphere as its hat and an old Nokia phone with “01.2025” on its screen, suggesting it would happen during the first quarter. In a second post, dogwifhat’s team stated they would share the dates as soon as they were allowed, which sent WIF into a 16% rally.
Nonetheless, the Las Vegas Sphere’s team distanced itself from the project on January 31. As reported by Bitcoinist, a spokesperson told news media outlets that there was no deal between the two parties, alleging the dogwifhat team was using their name for “fraudulent purposes,” which “spooked” the project’s partner, GamesMaster explained.
As a result, the WIF investor tried to work with an artist or DJ playing at the Sphere to include Dogwifhat in their visuals, but it wasn’t possible to execute in Q1 2025. “That effort led to a connection with an agency close to one of the artists, who claimed to have a strong relationship with the Sphere’s CEO. They pitched the idea as a pure art installation—just the pink knitted hat fully wrapping the Sphere,” the post read.
GamesMaker detailed that as the deadline approached, and communication between the organizers and the agency “became increasingly unreliable,” the team was forced to back out.
$700,000 Refunds Start Today
In 2024, WIF became one of the memecoin sensations of the cycle, reaching an all-time high of $4.88 a year ago, on March 31. Dogwifhat led the memecoin narrative during Q2 and recovered some of its early glory during the December pump.
Amid its 2,000% growth phase, many WIF community members put their hats on, participating in the massive fundraising campaign to display the memecoin in the Las Vegas Sphere, the world’s largest LED screen, for a week.
The campaign aimed to raise $650,000 to achieve this feat, which was quickly met by the community. Investors raised $700,000 but were left in the dark for several months, with many community members expressing concern and frustration about the project after Crypto.com displayed Bitcoin’s logo on the Sphere last July.
Several investors questioned the organizers, calling the project a scam and asking for refunds. Nonetheless, the dogwifhat team repeatedly assured the community that they were working to make the “Sphere WIF Hat” project happen soon.
On Monday’s X post, the organizer asserted, “Even a small amount of risk wasn’t acceptable when handling funds raised by the community.” As such, refunds will start today, April 1, with investors who sent their contributions through a Centralized Exchange (CEX) needing to submit proof manually to receive their refund. “The hat stays on,” the post concluded.
