Oh have I seen this happen too many times. Something gets popular, like really popular, and suddenly the parasites show up.
I quite remember being all in on DOGE in 2021, not necessarily because I thought it would make me rich, but mainly because the whole thing felt like an inside joke we all got to be a part of. There was this weird purity it had, but now it’s kinda tainted by token pushers who are pretending to be part of the movement. It’s not just annoying it’s insulting in my opinion.
I don’t even want to name these knock-off projects because that would be me advertising and giving them some legitimacy I don't think they deserve. Reason why I'm writing about it is that people keep falling for them. And no it’s not always greed, it's something Sometimes the fake hope it proposes. That dangerous kind of hope that makes people believe maybe this one’s real, that maybe this one won’t rugpull them into oblivion as we've seen for so many years in crypto.
There is a developer by the X name inevitable360, who made a tweet to call them out. Sincerely respect that, because there’s not enough of that anymore. Too many people are quiet, and I think it's because calling out scams makes enemies. But also note that silence isn’t neutral when people are getting hurt. I’ve had friends who invested cash into projects just because they saw a dog meme and thought, "Well, it’s like DOGE, right?" Unfortunately their money’s gone.
Let me just mention one of them: "Dogevan". Maybe, just maybe it turns out to be legit which I’m not betting on it. I mean think about it, If you need to use DOGE’s name to sell your project, you’ve already told me what I need to know.
Real coins don’t borrow identity, they don’t need to.
Funny thing is how fast people forget. DOGE wasn’t created to be a business opportunity, It became something because of people, not because of tokens. Tokens can’t replicate that, they try to buy it, hijack it, rebrand it, but they miss the point entirely which is that You can’t mint culture.
I don’t know where DOGE’s price is headed.
Doesn’t matter to me as much as whether the community survives with its spirit intact. The chart watchers can predict breakouts and wedges all they want, I’m just hoping the people still in it know how to tell the difference between a real coin and a trap wrapped in memes.