Grayscale launches Dogecoin Trust, calling memecoin tool for 'global financial inclusion'

Crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments has launched the Dogecoin Trust, giving individual and institutional accredited investors exposure to the DOGE memecoin in a share-based format.

"Grayscale believes DOGE has transitioned from a memecoin of a Shiba Inu to a tool for global financial inclusion, grassroots activism, and a viable means of payment," the company said Friday. "Due to its widespread accessibility, affordability, and rapid transaction speeds, DOGE has garnered significant adoption worldwide."

DOGE is the largest memecoin and the eighth largest cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization of over $50 billion, according to The Block's prices page . Created in 2013 as a joke, DOGE is the native cryptocurrency of the Dogecoin network, originally forked from Litecoin, a Bitcoin derivative.

Grayscale's Dogecoin Trust launch comes amid renewed momentum for DOGE following the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under U.S. President Donald Trump, led by Tesla CEO and longtime DOGE supporter Elon Musk. The White House unit has reportedly explored putting federal government systems on-chain, with potential use cases including tracking federal spending, managing buildings, and facilitating payments — though discussions remain in their early stages.

Earlier this week, crypto asset manager Bitwise filed an S-1 registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a spot Dogecoin ETF. Osprey Funds and Rex Shares have also submitted similar proposals.

Could a Dogecoin ETF become a reality this year? "I think everything is on the table moving forward under the new administration," ETF Store President Nate Geraci recently told The Block. "Today's satire is tomorrow's ETF," Bloomberg's senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas told The Block at the time.

Meanwhile, not everyone is convinced. "I'm quite confident we'll see a Solana ETF trading in the first half of 2025," Louis Sykes, a crypto analyst at All-Star Charts, told The Block. "DOGE [is] far less likely... let's just say Wall Street prefers assets that weren't born as a meme."