DogeOS opens public testnet with DOGE fees and EVM smart contracts

DogeOS has opened its public testnet on Sep. 30, bringing an EVM-compatible application layer to Dogecoin with DOGE as its native transaction-fee token, following a $6.9 million funding round announced in May 2025.

Summary

• Developers can test trading, lending, stablecoin, prediction-market, and gaming applications.
• DogeOS currently relies on validators, a trusted execution environment, and a permissioned sequencer.
• A proposed Dogecoin Core upgrade would enable native ZK-proof verification, but it has not been implemented.
• CEO Jordan Jefferson said the team will announce its mainnet timeline after further development milestones.

According to reports, DogeOS operates as a zero-knowledge rollup designed to support smart contracts while settling its state to Dogecoin, although the underlying blockchain does not currently verify the rollup's ZK proofs itself.

According to CEO Jordan Jefferson's comments to the publication, bridge state transitions require valid proofs, signatures from a majority of the validator set, and a signer operating within a trusted execution environment. His account places those components within the network's current security model, ahead of the proposed changes to Dogecoin Core.

DogeOS gives developers a live testing environment

In its launch announcement, DogeOS said developers can use the public testnet to build and test products before mainnet. The company described EVM compatibility as a way for developers already working on Ethereum-compatible blockchains to use familiar tools for Dogecoin applications.

Among the projects named in the announcement, Barkswap is developing a liquidity engine, Superposition Finance is building a Dogecoin lending protocol, and Derps is working on a perpetual exchange. DogeOS also listed Split Markets, which is developing options described as non-liquidatable, and USDoge, a collateralized debt position stablecoin.

For prediction markets, the company identified Snag as an aggregator spanning several markets. Its announced application lineup also includes launchpads from Anoncoin and Starbase, alongside games and consumer products being developed by Doge Escape, PlaysOut and DogeFundMe.

DogeOS cautioned in the announcement that application availability and features depend on each team's development schedule. The public testnet therefore gives those teams a place to test their work without establishing a common release date for every product.

Jefferson told The Block that network validation and developer testing remain the team's immediate priorities:

"We're focused on the public testnet, giving developers time to build and test applications while we validate the network," Jefferson said. "We'll share the mainnet timeline as we reach the next development milestones."

Native proof verification still requires a Dogecoin upgrade

Under the present design described by Jefferson, DogeOS combines its proof requirements with validator signatures and a trusted execution environment. The network also uses a permissioned sequencer, according to The Block's report.

A future upgrade would change how Dogecoin checks activity on the application layer. The DogeOS team submitted a proposed Dogecoin Core change in July 2025 that would introduce native ZK-proof verification, allowing Dogecoin miners to verify execution proofs directly, the publication reported.

The team's own proposal announcement described adding proof-verification capabilities to Dogecoin Core. The proposed change has not been implemented, according to the supplied report, so the public testnet launch does not establish that Dogecoin miners already perform those checks.

Commenting on the launch, Dogecoin Foundation director Timothy Stebbing expressed support for developers building applications around the network. His statement described an ambition for startup activity rather than a count of companies already operating on DogeOS.

"I've spent half a decade encouraging people to take a chance on Dogecoin and to build in its ecosystem," Stebbing said. "My hopes are that DogeOS becomes the springboard for a wave of new utility engineering, the gateway for the next 100 startups to build on Dogecoin."

Polychain funding backed application-layer development

DogeOS comes from the team behind the MyDoge wallet, according to The Block. In May 2025, the project announced a $6.9 million funding round led by Polychain Capital to support its application-layer plans.

As crypto.news previously reported in its May 2025 coverage of the Polychain-led funding round, the planned uses included launching the platform, expanding developer tools and forming partnerships. The report also identified gaming, artificial intelligence and decentralized finance among the project's intended application categories.

In an interview with The Block that month, Jefferson described building an application layer as a way to expand Dogecoin's ecosystem beyond its historical reliance on Elon Musk. The current launch gives developers access to the infrastructure discussed in those earlier plans.

A separate effort to connect DOGE with programmable applications appeared in May 2025 coverage of a Dogecoin-to-Solana bridge. Psy founder and CEO Carter Feldman explained that his project verifies Dogecoin block headers and proof-of-work data on Solana, rather than relying on centralized custodians or multisignature signers.

Feldman said the bridge would let Dogecoin holders access decentralized finance, NFTs and gaming applications on Solana without selling their DOGE. His description concerned Psy's bridge architecture, a separate project from the DogeOS application layer.

U.S. Dogecoin investors face an ETF closure

For U.S. investors holding DOGE through a listed fund, Bitwise has scheduled the Dogecoin ETF closure of BWOW, as reported on Sep. 11. The fund began trading on Nov. 26, 2025, offering exposure to Dogecoin through brokerage accounts.

Bitwise's Sep. 10 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission states that secondary-market trading and creation of new shares will stop before the market opens on Oct. 15. Its announcement identifies Oct. 14 as the expected final trading day and the date for converting the fund's Dogecoin holdings into cash.

Under the asset manager's announced schedule, remaining shareholders will receive cash around Oct. 22 based on the fund's Oct. 21 net asset value, without submitting a redemption request. The SEC filing says the distributions are taxable events and directs shareholders to consult their tax advisers about potential consequences.