If you\u2019re still inclined to scoff at Dogecoin\u2019s future as a payments tool, chew on this.<\/p>\n
Substantially more U.S. consumers told PYMNTS that they know about Dogecoin \u2014 a so-called \u201cmemecoin\u201d literally created as a joke \u2014 than ether, the No.2 cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $375 billion. That\u2019s nearly 20 times Dogecoin\u2019s $19 billion the market cap.<\/p>\n
See also:<\/strong> The U.S. Crypto Consumer: Cryptocurrency Use In Online and In-Store Purchases<\/a><\/p>\n Asked about cryptocurrencies they had heard of but not purchased, nearly 37% of the respondents to PYMNTS 2022 U.S. Crypto Consumer study named Dogecoin, compared to 30% who said that about ether.<\/p>\n And before you say, \u201cOh, well, that\u2019s obviously because more people actually bought ether,\u201d don\u2019t get too excited. While more people said they currently hold ether than dogecoin \u2014 about 7% to 6% \u2014 there were more former holder of DOGE than ETH.<\/p>\n That still left dogecoin solidly ahead of every other crypto, including top payments altcoins including litecoin, bitcoin cash and stellar \u2014 to say nothing of Circle\u2019s USD Coin stablecoin and top Ethereum competitor Cardano.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong> PYMNTS Blockchain Series: What Is Ethereum? The Blockchain That Moved Crypto Beyond Currency<\/a><\/p>\n This is despite the reality that as the native token of the main smart contract platform, Ethereum, ether is arguably the most important cryptocurrency in blockchain except as an investment. Bitcoin has that position, of course, but Ethereum underlies most uses of crypto as a non-payments tool, such as decentralized finance, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and supply chain management.<\/p>\n Dogecoin has also had some good pickup among U.S. consumers who have used cryptocurrency for payments, with 43% using it for online purchases and 32% for buying things in stores.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s worth noting that this was near the numbers of at least a dozen cryptocurrencies that have already been used for purchases \u2014 admittedly a still-small but rapidly growing percentage of the U.S. consumers surveyed.<\/p>\n Read also:<\/strong> PYMNTS Data Show Crypto\u2019s Use for in-Store Purchases Is Growing<\/a><\/p>\n Dogecoin, on the other hand, has Tesla CEO SpaceX tweeting memes of the shiba inu dog that fronts DOGE tokens. (Don\u2019t confuse that with the Dogecoin-competitor Shiba Inu, a blockchain whose \u201cshiba inu\u201d token will hereafter be called by its exchange symbol, SHIB, for clarity.)<\/p>\n See:<\/strong> Memecoin Ascendent: Can Elon Musk\u2019s Seat on Twitter Board End Dogecoin\u2019s Joke Status?<\/a><\/p>\n Which could explain why fewer U.S. consumers had never heard of dogecoin than of ether: Would-be Twitter buyer Musk has 82.5 million followers on the social media platform.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong> Elon Musk Moons Dogecoin, Showing the Power of His 66M Twitter fan-atics<\/a><\/p>\n And if you want to see how much power Musk\u2019s memes have, check out the difference between his current Twitter following (around 82 million) and its size when the above-linked article ran in December.<\/p>\n Fake It Till You Make It<\/strong><\/p>\n On April 15, AMC movie theater chain CEO Adam Aron tweeted out news that\u00a0\u201cexactly as promised<\/a>,\u201d the company\u2019s U.S. mobile app now takes DOGE and SHIB, along with unspecified \u201cother crypto currencies.\u201d<\/p>\n Exactly as promised, the AMC mobile app for AMC\u2019s U.S. theatres now accepts online payments using Doge Coin, Shiba Inu, and other crypto currencies \u2014 thanks to Bitpay. Also Apple Pay, Google Pay and Paypal. To do so, you first will need to update to the latest version of our app. pic.twitter.com\/MMy7SIxYbl<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Adam Aron (@CEOAdam) April 15, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Aron came into the crosshairs of the rabid dogecoin owner base, which kept the token alive until Musk\u2019s market moving tweets brought it back into the public eye in the wake of the WallStreetBets subreddit championed AMC in its high-profile short-seller battle.<\/p>\n It had already added support for bitcoin, ether, litecoin and bitcoin cash in November.<\/p>\n AMC\u2019s addition of dogecoin to its app came a day after Vlad Tenev, CEO of stock and crypto exchange Robinhood \u2014 which supports DOGE \u2014 wondered on Twitter, \u201cCan #Doge truly be the future currency of the Internet and the people?\u201d<\/p>\n Can #Doge<\/a> truly be the future currency of the Internet and the people? As we added the ability to send\/receive DOGE on Robinhood, I\u2019ve been thinking about what that would take.<\/p>\n \u2014 VLAD (@vladtenev) April 14, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Read more:<\/strong> Barking Mad? Robinhood CEO Sees Dogecoin as \u2018Future Currency of the Internet\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Putting that last point in perspective, the 2013-era coin had not had an active foundation until it was reformed this year \u2014 with a Musk rep and Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin on the board.<\/p>\n Dogged Pursuit<\/strong><\/p>\n In its own way even more impressive \u2014 well, intriguing anyway \u2014 is the prominence of SHIB, the token of the Shiba Inu blockchain, which was essentially created as a Dogecoin clone with some of the original\u2019s deliberate failings.<\/p>\n (Dogecoin co-creator Jackson Palmer said in an interview that he and his partner in mischief in the blockchain\u2019s hours-long creation and launch asked themselves \u201chow do we make this as ridiculous as possible? So how do we make it as undesirable as a cryptocurrency so that it doesn\u2019t become serious?\u201d)<\/p>\n While the fairly new SHIB has been heard of by a lot fewer consumers, it\u2019s tied for fourth place with litecoin in the survey\u2019s list of currently held cryptocurrencies, and ahead of bitcoin cash and USDC stablecoin.<\/p>\n![\"chart](\"https:\/\/securecdn.pymnts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/chart-crypto.png\")
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![\"Plastiq](\"https:\/\/securecdn.pymnts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Download-Plastiq-Future-Of-Payment-Innovation-April-2022-1.jpg\")