Dogwifhat Abandons Las Vegas Sphere Plans, Team to Refund Nearly $700K

Dogwifhat organizers have given up on their goal of advertising the prominent Solana meme coin on the Las Vegas Sphere, over a year after nearly $700,000 worth of crypto was raised for the campaign. This comes after the token’s official X account hinted in late January that the dog would appear on the exosphere in Q1 2025.

Late Monday, pseudonymous organizer GamesMasterFlex, also known as Edward, took to X (formerly Twitter) to state that the push to put the pup on the Sphere has ended, and that contributors will start to be refunded as early as Tuesday. The statement was reposted by the token’s official X account.

Edward claims that the team had secured a deal with a “fashion partner” that would advertise the Dogwifhat logo on the Sphere. The purported signing of this contract led to the token’s official X account confirming, retracting, and then just hinting that the dog would finally appear on the outer part of the Sphere, known as the “Exosphere,” in Q1 2025, according to Edward’s post.

Days later, however, a Sphere spokesperson confirmed to Decrypt that no deal had been signed and that it only accepted advertising from crypto exchanges and about Bitcoin.

“We have never had a deal with Dogwifhat, and our agency at the time only had one very preliminary conversation early last year,” a Sphere spokesperson told Decrypt in January. “There was and is no plan for Dogwifhat to appear on the Exosphere, and we are distressed they are using our name for fraudulent purposes.”

Edward claimed this statement “spooked” the fashion brand. The organizer told Decrypt that the fashion company, which he did not disclose, was especially concerned by the Sphere spokesperson’s use of the words “distressed” and “fraudulent purposes.”

The Dogwifhat token, which trades as WIF, then crashed 18% in the day following the statement, which Edward said led to the partner raising the alarm about how the advertisement could have a direct impact on the token price—and how that could be viewed by the SEC. This led to the deal breaking down, the organizer said.

A source familiar with the Sphere’s policies told Decrypt that the venue reviews all content that’s slated to appear on the exosphere. If any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin was included in an ad—including the likes of Ethereum, not just WIF—then the content would be flagged and not approved to run.

Edward said that the team then moved on to working with a musician set to play at the Sphere to include Dogwifhat in their visuals, but could not execute this in the previously announced timeframe. The team was working with an agency that claimed to have a “strong relationship” with Sphere CEO James Dolan, Edward said, and had pitched an art installation featuring the hat—but ultimately, this proposal also failed to come to fruition.

“I know it’s been a frustrating year, but at least we can say we gave it our best shot,” Edward said on X. “You’ll see refunds going out from [Tuesday]. The hat stays on.”

Dogwifhat (WIF) has climbed 5.7% since the Sphere update, according to DEX Screener—perhaps a sign that the market is eager to put the saga behind them, and to see refunds issued to backers following a year of uncertainty.

When Decrypt reached the Sphere for comment, a spokesperson said that nothing had changed since the venue’s previous statements.

Since raising nearly $700,000 in March 2024, the advertisement has become a shadow looming over the token as its community grew restless—with many sending hate and insults to the organizers on social media.

Pressure continued to mount when Crypto.com advertised Bitcoin on the Sphere last July, and again when rival Solana meme coin BONK was featured in a drone light show above the venue in December.

Fortunately, the funds were always traceable on the Solana blockchain via block explorer Solscan, where $697,800 worth of the USDC stablecoin remains in the original mutli-sig wallet—which requires multiple signers to move the funds.

Despite speculation from some aggrieved backers that the campaign was a scam or that the organizers were swiping the funds, they remain in clear view in the wallet. That said, the funds had been moved to an external wallet when the Q1 announcement was made, presumably to pay for the signed contract, but were moved back two weeks later.

Refunds are set to start as early as Tuesday; Edward told Decrypt that organizer Mihir is in charge of the refund process. Edward explained that the process will be automatic for contributors aside from those who sent funds via a centralized exchange. They will have to go through a manual submission process to seek a refund.

Mihir did not respond to Decrypt’s request for comment for further details on the refund process.

While the market may be receiving the Sphere news positively, one of the multi-sig owners took the opportunity to chastise community members who complained along the way.

“Getting WIF on the Sphere would’ve been a net positive for all memes,” pseudonymous organizer and multi-sig owner Quasi said on X. “Instead you guys ridiculed us and called us scammers for trying (and holding funds in the most transparent way possible).”

“Sad state of affairs,” Quasi said.

Edited by Andrew Hayward