DogeOS launches testnet to bring EVM smart contracts to Dogecoin

CEO Jordan Jefferson previously told The Block that DogeOS was building an application layer to expand the Dogecoin ecosystem beyond its historical reliance on billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

By Jason Shubnell • Edited by Kyle Baird
Ecosystems•September 30, 2026, 2:23PM EDT
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Quick Take

  • DogeOS has launched an EVM-compatible zero-knowledge rollup that settles to Dogecoin, giving DOGE a smart-contract application layer while the Dogecoin base layer itself remains unchanged.
  • DOGE’s price trades around $0.094, down 60% over the past year.
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DogeOS, an application layer for Dogecoin, on Wednesday launched its public testnet as a zero-knowledge rollup designed to bring EVM-compatible smart contracts to the network, with DOGE serving as the native token for transaction fees.

The project is designed to support applications including trading, lending, stablecoins, prediction markets, and games while settling its state to the Dogecoin network. DogeOS currently uses a trusted execution environment, validators, and a permissioned sequencer to secure the network, while a future proposed upgrade to Dogecoin Core would allow Dogecoin miners to verify its execution proofs directly.

Dogecoin does not currently verify the ZK proofs itself, DogeOS CEO Jordan Jefferson told The Block. Instead, bridge state transitions require valid proofs along with signatures from a majority of the validator set and a TEE signer.

"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."

DogeOS, which comes from the team behind the MyDoge wallet, announced a $6.9 million funding round led by Polychain Capital in May 2025. Two months later, the DogeOS team submitted a proposed Dogecoin Core upgrade that would add native ZK-proof verification to Dogecoin, although the upgrade has not yet been implemented.

Jefferson told The Block in May that DogeOS was building an application layer to expand the Dogecoin ecosystem beyond its historical reliance on Elon Musk. The testnet launch now gives developers a live environment to build and test applications on that infrastructure.

"I've spent half a decade encouraging people to take a chance on Dogecoin and to build in its ecosystem," Timothy Stebbing, director of the Dogecoin Foundation, said Wednesday in a statement. "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."

Dogecoin's price (DOGE) traded around $0.094 at publication time, down 60% over the past year.