Analysis of the Dual Evolution of DOGE as a Payment Medium and Cultural Symbol

In 2013, a Shiba Inu meme entered the world of code. Eleven years later, DOGE’s average daily trading volume surpassed $4 billion, over 1,400 merchants worldwide have integrated its payment network, and the number of coin holders exceeds 7.79 million. What is the token? It is neither a simple technical experiment nor purely a speculative asset—DOGE is the only cryptocurrency in history to serve simultaneously as a payment infrastructure and a grassroots cultural totem.

This dual identity has long caused a perception mismatch: the mainstream market simplifies it as a “Elon Musk concept coin,” while the native crypto community is caught in debates over whether Meme coins can carry real value. However, the technological breakthroughs and regulatory progress expected between 2024 and 2026 are pushing DOGE toward a historic paradigm crossroads.

This article traces DOGE’s evolution from a Reddit tipping tool to its application layer in ZK Rollups, dissects the paradoxes in its inflation model, reviews the logic behind three shifts in pricing power, and asks: as “jokes” begin to carry ETF expectations and cross-border payment demands, will cultural and payment narratives converge or diverge? Using on-chain data, technical proposals, and merchant adoption metrics, from Gate’s official research perspective, this provides a comprehensive analysis framework of DOGE as a “functional Meme coin.”

Origin Analysis of DOGE

Why can a “joke” span 11 years and become one of the most unique cultural symbols in the crypto world? On December 6, 2013, a tweet by Adobe marketer Jackson Palmer—“Investing in Dogecoin will be the next big thing”—unexpectedly ignited community enthusiasm. Meanwhile, IBM engineer Billy Markus was trying to create a more “user-friendly” digital cash than Bitcoin. The two teamed up, combining Bitcoin’s codebase with Litecoin’s Scrypt algorithm, adjusting the block time to 1 minute, and removing the total supply cap.

What is the token? DOGE’s initial issuance was set at 100 billion coins, with no pre-mining, no ICO, and no institutional backing. It is not a product of a technical white paper but a coded expression of internet meme culture.

Early community behaviors laid the foundation for DOGE’s dual nature:

• Payment medium: Reddit and Twitter users used DOGE for small tips, with transaction fees under $0.01 and confirmation times of only 1 minute.
• Cultural symbol: In 2014, the community spontaneously raised $55,000 to sponsor a NASCAR race car, featuring a Shiba Inu on its body, attracting mainstream media attention.

From a quantitative perspective on cross-cycle vitality: as of June 9, 2015, DOGE had 1.6 million client addresses, five times that of Litecoin; daily active addresses reached 83,000, second only to Bitcoin. This grassroots growth curve foreshadowed DOGE’s minimalist technical architecture—never chasing “smart contract” narratives but anchoring on “participatory daily interactions.”