In 2013, the crypto industry witnessed a coin launch that managed to steer clear of the severe investment narrative, and mocked the trend of minting speculative altcoins. The founders, Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus, called it "Dogecoin" and gave it an iconic Shiba Inu avatar. What followed afterward was quite unexpected, to say the least. This coin witnessed exponential growth, amassing a rabid fanbase in the process.
It presented its case as a friendly and approachable alternative to other cryptocurrencies. And now, Dogecoin is among the top 10 cryptocurrencies in the world, with a market cap of over $9 billion. Even celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Elon Musk began endorsing the narrative of Dogecoin. This gave rise to the "meme coin" trend, and many others like Shiba Inu and Baby Doge soon came into the picture.
Despite all this competition, however, Dogecoin remains the most sought-after meme coin, growing increasingly in popularity by the day. However, a problem with Dogecoin (and meme coins at large) is its lack of long-term utility. Sure, these coins can be used to make payments, but that's about it. This lack of utility hinders the adoption of meme coins - especially in the wake of cryptocurrencies with serious utility.
There is a dire need to create applications and use cases for Dogecoin to prevent it from becoming irrelevant in the wider crypto space. And this is precisely what the emergent blockchain Dogechain aims to achieve.
Opening the DeFi and NFT Doors for Meme Coin Holders
The Dogecoin network as we know it today is a fork of Litecoin, a division of Bitcoin. It is a proof-of-work (PoW) network without intelligent contract functionality, As such, it can only be used to make cross-border payments or HODL, but limits participation in the DeFi, NFT, and gaming revolution.
Dogechain, however, is a blockchain that aims to change this narrative. It is an EVM-compatible network that works with Dogecoin to "supercharge" it and create compelling use cases in the NFT, gaming, and DeFi realms. Dogechain is a layer 2 network for Dogecoin that is built to complement and enhance the functionality of the existing network. It uses the proof-of-stake consensus algorithm to bring scalability, efficiency, and security to Dogecoin. But most importantly, it brings the smart contract functionality to Dogecoin, opening the doors to countless use cases.
Dogecoin holders can wrap their tokens in these smart contracts and receive $wDOGE tokens in return. These tokens live on the Dogechain, and can be used in a growing ecosystem of DeFi and NFT applications. In other words, Dogecoin can now be used just like other cryptocurrencies such as Ether.
The Dogecoin community will now access all the cutting-edge financial products that DeFi offers. Holders can participate in DeFi lending, borrowing, staking, and yield farming - all of which will serve to increase Dogecoin's value exponentially. DEXs and dApps, such as QuicikSwap and Frax along with 14 other dApps, can easily be integrated with the Dogechain, allowing users to swap tokens, speculate on them, and make trades. 100+ dApps are also currently being built.
Apart from this, Dogecoin can also be used in various blockchain-gaming applications, where holders can play-to-earn, make in-game purchases, and participate in competitive gaming battles. In addition, they can buy, sell, trade, and mint non-fungible tokens (NFTs) using Dogecoin and pay gas fees for the network. This provides holders with an early entry into the metaverse, along with a chance to capitalize on the revolution.
Along with $wDOGE, Dogechain also recently launched $DC - the native Dogechain token primarily used for governance. In a span of a couple of weeks, this token was listed by top centralized exchanges like Kucoin and Huobi and achieved a 24hr volume of $57 million at peak. This token allows users to stake and participate in the governance of Dogechain and pay transaction fees on the network. $DC tokens can also fuel the chain's smart contracts, transactions, and DApps. This double-token economy gives users unprecedented convenience, and allows non-Dogecoin holders to enter the Dogechain ecosystem.
The technology powering Dogechain is built by some of the biggest names in the industry, with the Polygon Edge architecture also backing the project. Developers can develop and deploy various DApps, protocols, and entire virtual worlds using the Dogechain intelligent contract framework. The layer-2 solutions of the Polygon Edge architecture make it easy for them to increase their applications' overall transaction speeds and security.
Dogechain is poised to become one of the go-to DeFi ecosystems, building, deploying, and integrating innovative projects. Even in its emerging phases, the network already has over 232,000 wallets on-chain, has successfully achieved over 30 million transactions and bridged over 330,000,000 DOGE coins. Popular DEXs like Frax and QuickSwap have already been integrated into Dogechain along with 14 other protocols. Users can expect integrations of other popular DeFi and NFT projects in the near future. Moreover, over a hundred new projects are currently being developed and will soon become a part of the Dogechain ecosystem.
The bottom line is that Dogechain transforms Dogecoin into a multi-functional token that can act as both an easy and accessible gateway into DeFi and the metaverse. It provides catharsis to meme coins (which are usually written off by the industry) and positions them to compete with the top coins in this realm.
Cementing the Position of Meme Coins
Elon Musk once said, "The most entertaining outcome is the most likely," and rightly so. Dogecoin and other meme coins like it were initially only intended to be a tongue-in-cheek satire of cryptocurrencies. However, their accessible, approachable nature presented an entertaining alternative to cryptocurrencies, and as a result, they garnered widespread adoration and adoption worldwide.
Now, by providing long-term robust utility to these tokens, Dogechain solidifies its position in the broader crypto/blockchain industries while at the same time ensuring that its approachable and entertaining nature prevails in the future.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of techtimes.com
