Dogecoin gets DeFi testnet as DogeOS bets miners will eventually secure its apps
DogeOS wants to turn DOGE into more than a payments and speculation asset, but its applications still rely on selected operators rather than Dogecoin miners.
DogeOS has opened a public test network for Ethereum-style trading, lending and other applications using DOGE, an attempt to give Dogecoin holders more ways to use their coins beyond payments and price speculation.
The network launched Wednesday. It is Ethereum-compatible, allowing developers to use familiar software to build applications. The trial uses test DOGE to pay transaction fees, with projects developing lending services, trading platforms and a cryptocurrency-backed stablecoin.
DOGE is one of the largest cryptocurrencies, with a market value of about $13 billion, yet most of it does little beyond sitting in wallets or changing hands on exchanges.
Applications that let holders lend, borrow or trade with their coins would give people a reason to hold DOGE other than a bet on its price.
Dogecoin itself was built to do one thing, move DOGE between wallets. It cannot run a lending service or an exchange. DogeOS runs those applications on a separate system and lets users bring their DOGE across, which means trusting that system to keep honest records. DogeOS plans to back that trust with mathematical proofs, compact pieces of data showing the work was done by the rules without anyone having to redo it, and eventually have Dogecoin's own network check them.
The first version depends on DogeOS's selected operators and hardware. A permissioned sequencer, an authorized operator, decides the order of transactions.
Validators, computers responsible for checking and approving updates, work alongside a trusted execution environment, a protected section of computer hardware that checks the proofs. A committee called the Security Council oversees the system, according to details shared by the team.
People using the planned applications would therefore rely on those operators and hardware to work correctly. Dogecoin's miners do not yet verify the application proofs themselves.
DogeOS wants to give them that role through an upgrade to Dogecoin Core, the main software running the network. Its proposal, called OP_CHECKZKP, would add a rule allowing computers on Dogecoin to check proofs that calculations performed elsewhere were correct.
The proposal was published in July 2025. A separate implementation submitted in December remains a draft, with a placeholder proof checker and further development required before it could be activated.
DogeOS was founded by the team behind MyDoge, a Dogecoin wallet. Founder Jordan Jefferson told CoinDesk this month that buying DOGE was already easy, but attracting institutional investors required a stronger case for owning it, after Bitwise said it would close its dogecoin ETF.