While prominent figures like Elon Musk continue to actively promote Dogecoin, even planning to bring the digital token to the moon in what he calls a new "space race" with top cryptocurrency Bitcoin, a respected analyst is actually questioning the coin's real worth.
In an interview on Yahoo! Finance Live, Ric Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Engines, said Dogecoin has no legitimate use, having been created as a mere meme coin.
Dogecoin 'Not Doing the Crypo Cummunity Any Good'
Referring to the token as "Doggy coin," Edelman continued his disparaging remarks over Dogecoin, highlighting that the coin "was invented as a joke"--something that "was not serious" to begin with and has "no legitimate use case." He stressed that it is "not something that...is doing the crypto community any good," especially in this time when other cryptocurrencies seek legitimacy and credibility in the financial markets.
Edelman further shunned Doge, which he pronounced as "Doggy," as the "bad boy of crypto."
Dogecoin is currently falling 2.27 percent in the past 24 hours by Wednesday, settling at 31 US cents, CoinFdesk reported. It has a market capitalization of $40.66 billion
Dogecoin was created in 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, who would later abandon the project. The coin they made was derived from an Internet meme showing that iconic photo of the Shiba-Inu.
Musk has been largely behind its price surges over the past months, notably revealing a collaboration with Doge developers in improving "system transaction delivery."
Dogecoin Nearing 'Fraud Territory,' Says Analyst
The coin had been a "highly speculative asset," Edelman said hinting that it could go near "fraud territory." It has received criticism for allegedly having no actual underlying value, with analysts even describing it as a "bubble" ready to burst. This is due to the coin ballooning to over a hundred times of its value. Even with repeated warnings, investors kept on raising money, going by the millions of dollars, to shore up Dogecoin.
Edelman said Dogecoin has been creating a "bump and dump environment" of people who are trying to get rich quick." There lies the difference, Edelman said, between crypto leaders such as Bitcoin and Ethereum and a "joke coin" like Dogecoin.
The Motley Fool also said that Dogecoin has a lesser competitive advantage over its rivals, saying that if it continues its slide, the coin will have a difficult time recovering.
Dogecoin Not a Good Investment
There's also no official word on what the future holds for Dogecoin, but this could bring immense opportunity for Doge backers to further enhance its technology and emerge as a stronger market player. Currently, however, The Motley Fool indicated that Dogecoin is not the strongest investment option, with the meme token needing to exert extra effort to compete with the rest of the crypto players.
Edelman said other cryptocurrencies are headed for a big boost, especially Ethereum, which has the most use cases.
"I'm actually more excited about Ethereum than I am about Bitcoin," he further said in the Yahoo! Finance Live interview. "...although I'm bullish on both."
