What Is the Dogecoin Foundation? How the Divisive Group Reclaimed Its Glory

Many modern cryptocurrencies have their own supporting foundations, but the Dogecoin Foundation particularly stands out for its peculiar history, unique contributions, and once-divisive nature within its own community. 

As many people are aware, Dogecoin (DOGE) started as a joke, but surprisingly, it took off like a rocket in little to no time after its debut. 

As a result, the Dogecoin Foundation arrived on the scene to help develop Dogecoin while also making it more accessible, though achieving this has been far from easy. 

What Is the Dogecoin Foundation?

The Dogecoin Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating Dogecoin’s technical growth and promoting its value to the outside world. 

To be more specific, the three primary aims of the foundation are:

1. To support Dogecoin’s development and advocacy.
2. To defend Dogecoin’s trademark and brand.
3. To provide a roadmap and governance for future Dogecoin projects.

So while they can be hands-on in creating new projects for the network, the foundation also works off-chain with charities and events, for example. Needless to say, they have a lot on their plate, but without the foundation, the Dogecoin network would have become a wild wasteland.

Why Was the Foundation Needed?

When Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer introduced Dogecoin on December 6, 2013, the foundation formed the month after. But why did it arrive early in the token’s life cycle?

As mentioned previously, Dogecoin wasn’t designed to be taken seriously. Therefore, when it received more than 1 million visitors and rose nearly 300% in value for the first 30 days, problems were inevitable since it wasn’t built to manage and protect this many users at once.  

This became clear in late December when Dogecoin experienced its first major crash after China stopped investing in the Bitcoin (BTC) economy. Dogecoin would be hacked three days later, costing users millions of tokens. 

The hack inspired a ragtag community group called “SaveDogemas” to appear and donate tokens to those who lost them. However, after its unexpected rise to relevancy, it became clear that a bigger and more authoritative organization would be needed to keep the network safe going forward. 

Dogecoin Foundation History

There’s no denying that the Dogecoin Foundation has achieved some incredible feats in its time, but it took a while before its community members fully embraced it. 

Successful Beginnings

The Dogecoin Foundation was established in January 2014. It is composed of developers and community members. 

Though the foundation aimed to incentivize Dogecoin’s growth and acceptance, it initially focused on charity work to help garner the token a positive reception. 

In the same month, the foundation managed to fund two successful projects. The first, Doge4Water, saw the community raise $30,000 worth of Dogecoin at the time to build a well in the Tana River Basin in Kenya in partnership with Charity Water.

The second was a fundraiser for the Olympic Jamaican Bobsled team, which had qualified for the Sochi Winter Olympics but couldn’t travel due to limited funds. The Dogecoin Foundation collected more than $25,000, which allowed the bobsledders to live out their dream. 

Charity work brought genuine outside recognition to Dogecoin and even slightly raised its value, but not everyone was pleased with the foundation’s direction. 

Generosity Taking Its Toll

After the foundation’s early charity efforts, Dogecoin became seen as a ‘generous’ or ‘charitable token.’ 

Many community members expressed concern over this on blogs and social media sites. In one particularly popular Reddit post from the time, users complained that their token was being given away too liberally: “Please stop saying we are a tipping currency and just for fun. We are serious too”. 

Most people targeted Eric Nakagawa, an outspoken foundation member who many claimed to be treating the token like too much of a charity and not a legitimate cryptocurrency.

At the same time, thousands of Dogecoin holders had lost tokens to a scam led by Alex Green.’ Though Green had proposed that he was a well-intentioned trader who wanted to make buying and selling DOGE easier, he secretly did this to earn trust and gain donations before running off with the profits. 

As one developer explained , “Because the Dogecoin community was based wholly on generosity, we were like sheep to a slaughter.”

Major Exits

Clearly, the foundation had placed too much emphasis on charity, which led to some major players leaving the company by the end of 2014. 

Ben Doernberg, who had attempted to stop the Alex Green debacle, and the aforementioned Eric Nakagawa were the biggest names to depart.

At the same time, Dogecoin was facing technical issues. The limit on the number of circulating Dogecoins was becoming an issue considering how popular the network had become, and this meant fewer miners were joining the blockchain, which made it less secure. 

All this resulted in onlookers and publications criticizing Dogecoin’s future, citing its sudden price drops and expressing that the foundation’s troubles were taking an “Immense toll” on the token itself. 

Period of Silence

The Dogecoin Foundation would remain completely silent for seven years, with many presuming they had disbanded. 

Despite this, Dogecoin still saw significant growth throughout this period, especially in 2018, when it finally reached mainstream interest and briefly surpassed the $2 million market cap. 

Just before the “Crypto Winter” crash at the tail end of the year, Dogecoin would see a value rise of 103% in April, compared to 40% for Bitcoin. 

Dogecoin was riding high on the immense publicity it was receiving, but it would manage to keep up the momentum the following year thanks to favorable comments made by Elon Musk and a little help from Reddit’s WallStreetBots. 

Dogecoin survived despite the foundation’s absence, arguably doing better than ever. 

Foundation’s Revival 

In August 2021, the Dogecoin Foundation announced their grand return. Though the news sent shockwaves through the crypto media landscape, community members remained skeptical about whether the foundation had made enough of a change to be viable, especially now that Dogecoin had grown so popular. 

However, these worries were put to rest when the foundation clarified that it was placing a much larger emphasis on developing the network and its features rather than being too preoccupied with charity work. 

Not only had they aimed to secure a 3-year budget to hire a small full-time team to work on Dogecoin simultaneously, but they also announced that they had several exciting projects in the pipeline. The foundation also managed to bring Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum (ETH) , on board. 

Since their return, the Foundation has been very active in Dogecoin’s developments, harkening back to the three original aims that they were founded by. 

What Does the Foundation Do in Practice?  

After a long hiatus, the Dogecoin Foundation finally found its footing again, but in what ways does this influential group impact Dogecoin as a whole?

Implementing New Features

The Dogecoin Foundation is responsible for rolling out new features for the network. Here are three popular examples of tools that they’ve introduced over the last few years:

1. GigaWallet: Backend service that uses API integration for shops and services to transact on behalf of Dogecoin users. 
2. LibDogecoin: Provides low level C functions that can allow anyone to develop a product that conforms to the Dogecoin standard. 
3. RadioDoge: It uses cheap and reliable radio technology to allow for wide-scale access to Dogecoin for people who otherwise struggle to reach it due to being out of reach of traditional infrastructure. 

Upgrades

Sometimes, the foundation proposes upgrading a core component of Dogecoin, while others simply update a recently introduced feature. 

In December 2021, the foundation announced they were “Working with Vitalik on crafting a uniquely Doge proposal for a ‘community staking’ version of Proof of Stake.” This drastic change to the consensus mechanism would “Allow everyone, not just big players, to participate in a way that rewards them for their contribution.”

It may have been a long time coming, but the Dogecoin Foundation is finally examining its core components to improve the network’s comfort and modernity. 

Roadmaps

A roadmap is a plan of action template that sets out upcoming development schemes and projects developers hope to implement over the next few months or years. 

These are important for keeping community members informed about any upcoming changes and getting them excited about new features that they could use. 

The Dogecoin Foundation has begun rolling out roadmaps to be transparent about its work. In February 2024, for example, the latest section of the roadmap highlighted proposed upgrades for the GigaWallet and LibDogecoin, along with several other new enhancements on the way. 

Legal Protection

The Dogecoin name is profitable, but bad actors always try to use it and its recognition for their own selfish deeds. 

One of the Dogecoin Foundation’s primary responsibilities is to defend its namesake and keep Dogecoin users safe from scams. 

The biggest example of this occurred in September 2021, when the foundation took aim at Dogecoin 2.0. Though this peculiar token had no affiliation with the original Dogecoin, the foundation proudly mocked it on its website, claiming to provide a “much more sustainable tokenomics structure than its somewhat inflated predecessor.”

The foundation took issue with this, demanding Dogecoin 2.0 change its name and warning DOGE holders not to interact with the doppelganger. 

Community Conversations

The Dogecoin Foundation uses its blog to communicate with its community, whether to introduce a new team member, lay out upcoming projects, or establish basic principles. 

These more casual conversations allow DOGE holders to feel they are always being considered when these changes occur. 

In February 2024 , for example, Ed Tubbs spoke directly to the community, discussing issues that the foundation was working on right then and there. This primarily focused on broadening community initiatives and reflecting on the success of 2023 projects. 

Charity Work 

As we have already seen, charity efforts were a main focus for the Dogecoin Foundation in the early years. 

The Winter Olympics and Doge4Water donations were the most notable, but another lesser-known example was the Dogecoin and NASCAR partnership in 2014. At the time, racer Josh Wise was driving an unsponsored car, so the Dogecoin community decided to help him. 

For the sponsor to be legitimate, $55,000, equivalent to 67 million Dogecoins at the time, was required, and much to the generosity of the Dogecoin community, this was raised in a single week. 

Dogecoin Foundation Participants

It would be nearly impossible to name every person who works with the main team and the subsidiaries at the Dogecoin Foundation. However, there are a few particularly well-known individuals who play the role of advisors to provide support and assistance when it’s needed:

• Jared Birchall (Neuralink CEO).
• Billy Markus (Dogecoin Founder, known as Shibetoshi Nakamoto).
• Max Keller (Dogecoin Core Developer).
• Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum Co-Founder).

In terms of the foundation’s developers, these are the main individuals who get to call the shots:

• Jens Wiechers (Executive Board Member).
• Michi Lumin (Principal Engineer).
• Timothy Stebbing (Product Lead).

Other Charities That Accept Dogecoin 

The Dogecoin Foundation proved that Dogecoin, and crypto in general, could be used to support good causes, and as a result, multiple charities now accept it, including:

• The Water Project: Provides clean drinking water to communities in Kenya, Uganda, and India.
• Wikimedia Foundation: Operates Wikipedia and other free educational projects.
• Save The Children: Supports educational services, healthcare, and emergency relief for needy children. 
• Humane Society: Animal welfare organization that funds animal rescue and adoption programs. 

On the Flipside

• The Dogecoin Foundation isn’t the only one that has facilitated Dogecoin’s growth over the years.
• Elon Musk for example has been a major component in bringing mainstream attention to the token, and though it wasn’t all down to him, he’s still played a very big role. 

Why This Matters

Not only has the Dogecoin Foundation helped people recognise the legitimacy and positive benefits of cryptocurrency, its is allowing the most popular memecoin on the planet to flourish with new upgrades, enhancements, and systems. 

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