Recent Surge in Dogecoin (DOGE) Network Activity Explained by Developer
Dogecoin (DOGE) has seen a surge in network activity due to the creation of meme coins on the Dogecoin network using newly created standard DRC-20. However, according to Dogecoin-focused Twitter account Mishaboar, this activity is associated with spam, causing blocks to near full capacity and potentially increasing transaction fees and slowing down transaction times. Mishaboar also highlights that the DRC20 tokens are simply Dogecoin network transactions with extra data attached to them and that there are currently no websites or marketplaces where users can utilize these tokens and trade them. Dogecoin developer Patrick Lodder notes that there is “actual abuse at scale happening on the network” and recounts the history of Dogecoin fees, the dust limit, and its core policy on spam management. A soft dust limit was introduced to make it expensive to spam, and a hard dust limit prevented any transaction from being sent for less than 1 DOGE. A proposal to lower fees and remove hard-coded policies in favor of configurability was published in the middle of 2021 and implemented in two minor releases. While a 100-fold decrease in minimum fees and dust limits was desirable, node operators can change their policies as they see fit without the need for developer intervention.
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