The Dogecoin Foundation Just Delivered Fantastic News to DOGE Investors. Is This Popular Meme Coin Now Worth a Closer Look?

Is this the start of a Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) comeback arc, or just more noise? On Oct. 21, the Dogecoin Foundation, the nonprofit that stewards the coin, helped launch Dogecoin Labs, a new company that will own and operate three existing products meant to make the coin more useful.

Dogecoin's younger sibling, Shiba Inu, tried doing something similar by launching an ecosystem of its own a few years ago, but to little effect. Still, any new developments are good news for Dogecoin holders, given the coin's lack of fundamental value so far. So is the king of the meme coins worth paying more attention to now?

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This plan is better than no plan, but it's a long way from success

In a nutshell, the new collaboration ties together three active Dogecoin-related projects, DogeOS, MyDoge, and Such App, to create a true ecosystem associated with the coin. If that plan works, it could add demand for DOGE, since DogeOS apps use the coin to pay transaction fees.

Ideally, developers would next build useful or interesting apps on DogeOS, a separate network for apps that aims to eventually have Dogecoin's own network verify its work. Then, Dogecoin holders would find and use those apps through the MyDoge wallet, and then merchants associated with the apps would take compensation for their services via Such App, a payment app for invoices and in-person QR-code payments.

One issue is that most of those components are not yet in working order or active use.

For instance, the MyDoge wallet app claims to have more than 500,000 users, but it hasn't disclosed how many of those users are actually active. Plus, there are a plethora of other crypto wallet apps targeted at individual investors, many of which are far more mature, with more features and better security.

Similarly, DogeOS only launched its test network (a blockchain environment with fake coins for testing purposes) on Sept. 30. Its featured apps are still billed as "coming soon," and Such App's merchant beta test hasn't yet been linked to DogeOS in any way. And both DogeOS and Such App have the same problem as MyDoge: there are many other smart-contract blockchains and payment-processing apps that are far more mature.

Even aside from that, Dogecoin's own history argues for keeping expectations low here. In 2022, developers launched Dogechain, an attempt at the same ecosystem jump-start idea, but it's now largely defunct.

Should you buy Dogecoin now?

In light of the above, there's still no reason to buy Dogecoin as of today. The coin has no fundamental drivers of value, and the latest ecosystem push is unlikely to change that as currently envisioned.

But even if the plan worked perfectly, with users flocking by the thousands to DogeOS to buy services from Such App using funds from their MyDoge wallets, it wouldn't automatically reward Dogecoin holders. There's nothing announced that would consistently route app fees to coinholders through a mechanism such as a buyback or a dividend.

Nonetheless, this is more promise than Dogecoin has shown in years. It probably isn't worth keeping a close eye on, but it might be worth circling back and seeing how things are going in a year or so.

Alex Carchidi has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.