Dear Dogecoin holders, this is something you will really want to consider if you have any Dogecoin or are thinking about buying Dogecoin. I've been in crypto forever, and I care about you. I want you to have the best investments. I don't want you to miss out on the best opportunities. So none of this is financial advice. I'm not a financial advisor, and I hold tens of thousands of ICP, which I believe is the most advanced blockchain in all of crypto. What I want you to think about is opportunity cost when it comes to your Dogecoin. Is there any better crypto you could be holding instead of Dogecoin? I know there's a lot of hype, and Dogecoin is one of the original meme coins. But let's think this through a little bit.
I'm playing a game I enjoy called Hades 2 in the background to make the content a little more interesting, because I'll be honest, these crypto videos do get repetitive where I'm saying the same things over and over again. But they're especially important to consider. And what's important to consider is: what future does Dogecoin actually have?
Dogecoin is a copy of a copy
The fact is that technically, Dogecoin is a copy of Litecoin, which is itself a copy of Bitcoin. So how well can we really expect a copy of Litecoin, which is a copy of Bitcoin, to perform? Dogecoin has done well off of Elon Musk hyping it up. But how often is that going to keep happening? Big market meme coins don't, in my experience, seem to be the best opportunities anyway. Right now, the best opportunities in meme coins seem to be the small, brand new meme coins, especially if you can launch one yourself.
What can you actually do with the Dogecoin blockchain?
If we look at the technology behind Dogecoin, I see very little potential for utility. The one thing we really need to look at with the Dogecoin blockchain is what you can actually do with it. You can send transactions. And when you send transactions on the Dogecoin blockchain, you generally need a third-party wallet of some sort to do that. So you're not actually interacting with the Dogecoin blockchain yourself. You've got your crypto on something like Coinbase, Tangem, or even a Dogecoin-specific wallet. When I had Dogecoin before, I was using it on my Ledger hardware wallet, and that's a third-party wallet. You're dependent on Ledger to provide that. You're not even directly creating transactions on the blockchain itself without going through a third party.
To me, is that meeting the real definition of crypto? The essence of crypto, the way I see it, is being able to do everything without a third party. And the fact is that almost everybody I see interacting with Dogecoin is doing so through a third party. That means you're using a Ledger hardware wallet, or you're using a crypto exchange wallet. You're not actually going directly through the blockchain.
Now, before the Internet Computer Protocol existed, that might have been reasonable. Well, everybody's doing it the same way, so what's the difference? But the Internet Computer Protocol today allows you to go directly to the blockchain in a web browser URL and create transactions without relying on a third party. So the way I see it, the Dogecoin proof-of-work tech is outdated. The narratives around Dogecoin are outdated. I don't see why you would hold Dogecoin in this era of crypto investing when the blockchain itself is, from the way I see it, mostly irrelevant, because you need that third-party wallet and there are much better technological alternatives. Basically, all you're relying on with Dogecoin at this point is the branding.
A cult coin, and the small ones are where the gains are
What I see is that Dogecoin is mostly a cult coin at this point. But there are practically infinite cult coins, and it's going to be the small new cult coins where you get a lot of the gains, at least from what I've seen so far. So I personally don't see why I'd hold a big market cult coin, and I had Dogecoin before. I just don't see the reason to hold it.
Then there have been Dogecoin Layer 2s. The Internet Computer Protocol has actually set it up so you can now have a Dogecoin Layer 2 on the Internet Computer Protocol. But you need to think about what that means too. The best opportunity for Dogecoin to have success at this point is to rely on Layer 2s to give it more real utility. And in my view, the Internet Computer Protocol is the best one for that. So it comes back to opportunity cost. Why would I have any money in Dogecoin? That's exactly why I don't have any money in Dogecoin. Why would I hold Dogecoin when the Internet Computer Protocol already has the best Layer 2 setup for Dogecoin?
The two futures I see for crypto
The Internet Computer Protocol's tech is so good that there are basically two futures I see happening. In one future, all crypto just becomes centralized. You go through centralized exchanges for everything, you don't really self-custody anything, and you constantly follow whatever the big players want you to hold. In that scenario, crypto becomes mostly pointless. So why would Dogecoin succeed there?
In the second scenario, crypto becomes something real, where you're actually using the blockchain and truly cutting out third parties, not just running on hype and speculation. In that case, the Internet Computer Protocol has the best technology for it. So in that scenario, why would you have Dogecoin either? I don't see why you'd hold Dogecoin in either of the two directions I believe crypto is heading. I genuinely can't think of one good reason to hold Dogecoin at this point.
Again, this isn't financial advice. I'm not telling you what to do. But I talk to people who are holding Dogecoin and are so bullish about it, and I'm left thinking, what is there to be excited about? All I see are narratives. I see hype. I see speculation. What I don't see is real utility for the token itself. I've shared this with the hope that you'll just consider it, and I would not do anything as a result of what I've said. Don't take any action. I'm just telling you my research.
I held Dogecoin last year. I got in on the Elon Musk hype and all of that. And I got rid of it when I compared it to the Internet Computer Protocol and thought, I don't see why I would hold this. There are limited opportunities in crypto to invest, and I don't want to be in anything except the best. If you're not the best, I don't want to be invested in you. And Dogecoin, to me, is obviously a big market meme coin. I don't want a big market meme coin. Small market meme coins are the way to go, in my opinion. If you want to dig deeper into how I think about crypto and investing, you can explore my Money playlist.
I think I've made this pretty clear. I just wanted to put it out there for everybody holding Dogecoin. It's simply something to think about. I'm very aware of all the criticisms people have for the Internet Computer Protocol, and I think it's just as important to be aware of all the criticisms people have for your coin. I'm Jerry Banfield, a full-time YouTuber and streamer, and I appreciate you taking the time to consider this.