Own the DOGE, the Group Behind the Original Doge Meme's Intellectual Property, Has Unveiled a New Meme Coin Named Cocoro (COCORO)

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.

Own the Doge, the group behind the original Doge meme’s intellectual property, has launched a new meme coin named Cocoro (COCORO) on Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network developed by Coinbase.

What Happened: The coin's debut coincides 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 Decrypt that they chose Base for its scalability and affordability. "We are big fans of what Base is doing for the ecosystem. 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.

We are delighted to welcome the latest member of Atsuko's family, Cocoro!With Atsuko's blessing, OTD is launching $Cocoro. The launch is intended to defend against unofficial, extractive deployments, while being as fair as possible and benefitting Atsuko's existing supporters.https://t.co/9p47MWH7LY pic.twitter.com/6jZZK5JgS3

Dogecoin, 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 GlobalCOIN and Robinhood MarketsHOOD are notable platforms with meme coin exposure. Investors may also look to ETFs like ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETFBITO or Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETFWGMI for broader crypto-related plays.

Why It Matters: Following Cocoro's launch, DOG jumped 25% in value, according to 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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