“This has nothing to do with me,” Atsuko Sato, owner of Kabosu the Shiba Inu that inspired Dogecoin said firmly, pushing back against unauthorized use of her image. Sato revealed that a post from her Instagram was exploited by scammers to promote the CATE token, falsely implying her endorsement. She expressed frustration that influential X accounts amplified the misinformation, spreading fake tokens linked to her likeness without permission.
Only two projects have Sato’s official backing: Own The Doge and its related ventures. Own The Doge acquired the famous Doge NFT in 2021 and launched the DOG token while organizing Doge Day events, supporting animal charities, and overseeing intellectual property tied to the Doge brand. More recently, in 2025, Sato and the Own The Doge team introduced the COCORO token on the Base network, an initiative also aimed at pet care and animal welfare through the “withkabosu” group.
Sato urged the community to rely solely on authorized statements, warning users to be cautious of copycat projects like CATE, which have no official ties or benefits to the pet care causes she supports. The ongoing misuse highlights the risks investors face amid a flood of altcoins leveraging viral images to attract attention. This incident follows broader market turbulence as leading cryptocurrencies jockey for position, evident in recent shifts within Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP amid choppy moves.
As trust remains fragile in crypto, Sato’s stance could help clarify which tokens truly represent the Dogecoin legacy and support its charitable aims. For now, she keeps a clear line: only DOG and COCORO have her backing.
This material is informational and not financial advice.
