Elon Musk and Mark Cuban are promoting Dogecoin
Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, two of Dogecoin’s most notable supporters, have been openly promoting the joke token as a viable payment service.
Musk has been talking to Dogecoin developers on how to improve the coin faster for everyday payments, as he tweeted and as Decrypt detailed in details. Musk’s goal, according to Dogecoin developer Ross Nicoll, is to make Dogecoin simple enough to use for a cup of coffee.
Meanwhile, during the Ethereal Virtual Summit presented by Decrypt earlier this month, Cuban stated that Dogecoin is becoming more of a utility in terms of money. Cuban went on to say that he’s been “talking to BitPay a lot” and that the cryptocurrency payments company is in the process of enrolling more merchants to accept the cryptocurrency. He also said that people are constantly registering to be Dogecoin dealers or merchants.
Many people find the idea ludicrous, given that Dogecoin was developed as a joke in 2013 and its GitHub code page has been dormant for years. However, statistics from BitPay backs up Cuban‘s claims that DOGE will become a popular payment method.
Dogecoin is now the fourth cryptocurrency by total payment volume (after Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum), according to BitPay, which enables retailers to accept cryptocurrencies as payment.
Dogecoin currently accounts for 12.6 percent of BitPay’s transaction volume. DOGE was only 3.3 percent of volume two months ago, in March, and was 7.8 percent of volume in April.
Bill Zielke said that it has fast become a substantial coin for them. BitPay’s CMO also added that there is utility in it since it has increased very quickly in their network. It has use based on the fact that businesses are seeing thousands of transactions with Dogecoin. It also has a feature that Bitcoin or Ethereum don’t have at the moment.
Dogecoin offers cheap fees. And when you combine a vibrant community with minimal fees, you’ve got a winning combination. The company believes that Dogecoin will continue to expand, and its utility will increase.
Microsoft, AT&T, Camping World, and WeWork are just a few of the well-known consumer brands that use BitPay.
But before Dogecoin holders and investors reach to the final conclusion that these huge names are all crazy with Dogecoin, there are 2 main BitPay cautions. Every BitPay merchant is set up by default to accept all 11 cryptocurrencies that BitPay supports. It means that many of the merchants accepting Dogecoin didn’t choose to accept it.
And, according to Zielke, the majority of BitPay merchants still choose to have their crypto converted to fiat currency immediately. (Within one business day, BitPay delivers them the fiat equivalent in dollars or euros.)
According to Zielke, these are huge corporations, and they feel their inclination is to accept money rather than cryptocurrency. Furthermore, Zielke said that the most of them do not want to have a volatile asset on their records.
Crypto is now a popular option for smaller firms, particularly those in regions where the fiat currency may not be as reliable.
Despite those caveats, Zielke claims that after BitPay signed an agreement with Cuban‘s Dallas Mavericks to be the first to accept Dogecoin via BitPay. The move that allowed all existing BitPay merchants to accept Dogecoin. Also, all merchants came to them and wanted to specifically promote DOGE as an option. Therefore, they worked with them to create an awareness campaign around it (One example is Newegg, which sells computer accessories.)
For the time being, BitPay hasn’t noticed a significant increase in business opting to keep the cryptocurrency they receive. Zielke said that, he wished, he could say they’ve seen a change in that. He also told that he believe it’s stayed essentially the same.