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The Wall Street Journal published an article on Sept. 14 about Dogecoin (CCC:DOGE-USD) and its pending trademark issues. The story describes the battle between several foundations that claim to be the real Dogecoin backer.
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The problem stems from the fact that The Dogecoin Foundation, a Colorado nonprofit formed in 2014 by Dogecoin’s creators and supporters, slacked off. They didn’t file a claim on the Dogecoin name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office until late August 2021. The WSJ reports that there are a dozen other applications at the Trademark Office “vying for the exclusive use of the dogecoin brand.”
So What Happened?
According to the WSJ, the original Foundation became defunct for several years. The board members also didn’t see any point in registering the trademark name.
This was despite the fact that many products were coming out with the dogecoin or doge name. In fact, the Foundation has just recently started issuing cease and desist letters.
Another problem with the trademark dispute is that even the term “bitcoin” has not been trademarked in the U.S. However, “ether” has been branded as an Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD) blockchain token by the Swiss-based Ethereum Foundation. The organization is co-founded by Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s founder.
According to Decrypt magazine, Buterin is also advising the Colorado-based Dogecoin Foundation. He is helping them get re-established in the crypto-friendly state of Liechtenstein.
The Foundation also now has a representative linked to Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and privately-owned SpaceX Technologies.
The Implications of a Trademark Battle
For investors in Dogecoin, including me, this is all good news. The cryptocurrency had a market capitalization of $31.47 billion as of Sept. 16 and Doge tokens had a value of 23 cents. The crypto is now being taken seriously by its backers and potentially down the road by institutional investors.
In other words, Dogecoin won’t be considered just a joke cryptocurrency anymore. As I pointed out last month, it remains a hit with millennials. I wrote that Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) reported more than half of its second-quarter sales were due to DOGE token activity. According to CNBC, Dogecoin trading accounted for 62% of the millennial-oriented brokerage firm’s total quarterly sales.
In fact, DOGE has been on the mend lately. First, it ranks as the ninth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Second, Dogecoin has floated up from its recent trough of 17 cents on July 19.
At today’s price, Dogecoin is up 40.8%. However, since its peak on May 7 at 68.48 cents per token, it is down 63.6%. This means just to get to half of its former peak at 34.24 cents, Dogecoin would have to rise by another 43%. That’s possible, but it could take a while.
What to Do With Dogecoin
The Dogecoin Foundation wants to make the crypto a viable payment method. That seems to be its main appeal to millennials, and is probably why it still has such a high market cap.
This is clearly a contrarian and risky play. It could succeed, but the path will be jagged and full of potholes like the trademark issue.
However, as I suggested last time, investors should consider taking at least a “toe hold” stake in the crypto. That is what I have done, and I suspect I may average into it further.
This chance at significant gains is the reason I have an appetite for risky and contrarian plays like DOGE, along with some stable and core value investments. You never know, as they say. Dogecoin, despite the odds, might become a multi-bagger again.
On the date of publication, Mark R. Hake held a long position in Bitcoin (BTC-USD), Dogecoin (DOGE-USD), and Ethereum (ETH-USD), but not in any other security mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
Mark Hake writes about personal finance on mrhake.medium.com and runs the Total Yield Value Guide which you can review here.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
