Dogecoin Co-Creator: Ethereum Bridge and NFT Purchases Would 'Help Dogecoin'

Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus has said that Dogecoin (DOGE) needs an Ethereum bridge and inclusion by NFT marketplaces as a payment option in order to boost adoption of the cryptocurrency. 

“Two things I believe would help Dogecoin: Completion of DOGE-ETH bridge, and NFT platforms (e.g. Opensea) allowing for the DOGE-ETH token to be used for purchases,” Markus said in a tweet. 

“NFTs purchasing is high demand with crypto,” Markus added, noting that enabling the use of Dogecoin for non-fungible token (NFT) purchases “greatly increases its utility.” 

Dogecoin believers

Markus is not the only one who is pushing for greater Dogecoin adoption. 

The Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency has had a net-positive year to date. Since January 1, 2021, the price of Dogecoin has increased from $0.004 to its current price of $0.20. 

Along the way, Dogecoin peaked at a price of $0.68, helped along by the enthusiastic endorsement of Tesla CEO Elon Musk. 

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In May, Musk said that Dogecoin could “hands down” beat Bitcoin if it sped up its block time and block size by 10x—as well as decreasing fees by 100x. Throughout the year, Musk has been one of Dogecoin’s biggest advocates, and his tweets have frequently sent Dogecoin’s price soaring. 

He’s also been advising Dogecoin developers with a view to making the cryptocurrency cheap and easy enough to use for everyday purchases like buying a cup of coffee. "Elon obviously has a background in payment processing," Dogecoin dev Ross Nicoll told Decrypt. "And we're taking advice from him on what that would look like."

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Adam Aron, CEO of movie theater chain AMC, is also open to seeing Dogecoin used for payments. Earlier this month, AMC announced that it would take Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for online payments, but left Dogecoin out of the mix.

Following a spirited response from Dogecoin fans on social media, Aron ran a Twitter poll on exploring Dogecoin as a payment method, with over 82% of respondents in favor of the movie theater chain opening up to Dogecoin.

Dogecoin’s doubters

Musk and Markus may believe in a Dogecoin future, but the meme cryptocurrency is not without its critics—including Markus’ fellow Dogecoin co-founder, Jackson Palmer. 

Since helping to create Dogecoin, Palmer has announced that he wants nothing to do with the cryptocurrency, or any cryptocurrency for that matter. 

“After years of studying it, I believe that cryptocurrency is an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity,” Palmer said in a tweet this summer.