Elon Musk’s personal advisor, Jared Birchall, is joining the board of advisors of the rebooted Dogecoin Foundation, which will work on the development of Dogecoin. Birchall is in charge of Musk’s family office.
The original Dogecoin Foundation was founded in 2014. However, the Foundation’s activity tapered off over time. This may have led to concern that Dogecoin would become yet another abandoned cryptocurrency, which caused its fall from its previous position as the third largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
The rebooted version of the Dogecoin Foundation is currently seeking funding for three years’ worth of activity and the board plans to meet monthly. According to its founding announcement, the Foundation plans to support development for the Dogecoin ecosystem, including APIs for financial, social, and charitable projects and protect Dogecoin trademarks like the Shiba Inu-inspired logo and mark against attacks by parties that have previously sought to co-opt them for selfish and less-than-honest purposes. The Foundation gives credit to an individual named Jens Wiechers, who fended off early attempts to seize Dogecoin’s intellectual property. The Dogecoin Foundation does say that it will allow for the use of its intellectual property for Dogecoin-related projects, however.
The Dogecoin Foundation’s website includes Dogecoin’s motto of “Do Only Good Everyday” (D.O.G.E.). In the past, Dogecoin has sponsored racecars and Olympic athletes and raised over $30,000 for charity:water, which brings clean water to disadvantaged populations. Other advisors include Dogecoin creator Billy Markus, who the website lists as the community and memes advisor. Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin is also joining the board of advisors.
With the recent surge of attention, which includes significant promotion by Elon Musk himself, Dogecoin currently sits at 7th place by market cap on CoinMarketCap’s list of cryptocurrencies. According to posts on the official subreddit, Dogecoin holders have used their recent profits to adopt pets and pay their vet bills, cover basic expenses after losing their jobs, and made desired purchases like (most recently) a new motorcycle.
These posts are, of course, in between the endless posting of memes. Created in 2013, Dogecoin was originally meant to be a humorous meme-inspired cryptocurrency. Dogecoin often poked fun at the seriousness of other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Elon Musk has become nearly as well-known for his support of cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin as he is for companies like PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla. He plugged Dogecoin during his guest-hosting gig for SNL and briefly used the handle of “CEO of Dogecoin” on his Twitter account as a joke.
Tesla briefly accepted Bitcoin for vehicle purchases before Musk reversed course, citing energy usage concerns. This has led some to suggest more environmentally friendly and efficient cryptocurrencies, as well as push for actually accepting Dogecoin. Musk has said that Tesla might reinstate Bitcoin payments if more major cryptocurrency mining firms move to “greener” energy sources.
This year’s regulatory filings have revealed that both Tesla and SpaceX hold cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets. SpaceX accepted Dogecoin for the “DOGE-1” mission, which will place a small experimental satellite in lunar orbit. The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase recently revealed that both Tesla and SpaceX are customers.
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