Key Takeaways
- Bitwise will liquidate its Dogecoin ETF less than 10 months after it began trading on the NYSE.
- BWOW had accumulated just $687,713 in assets and lost more than 45% of its value since launch.
- DOGE would need to rise nearly 1,100% from approximately $0.084 to reach the long-awaited $1 milestone.
Bitwise is shutting down its Dogecoin exchange-traded fund less than 10 months after launching it, dealing a fresh blow to hopes that Wall Street would embrace the original memecoin.
The crypto asset manager announced on Sept. 10 that the Bitwise Dogecoin ETF will cease operations and be liquidated in October.
BWOW began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in November, meaning the fund will have survived for less than a year.
Its closure comes as Dogecoin price trades at around $0.084, nearly 90% below its record high reached during the Elon Musk-fueled memecoin mania of 2021.
Bitwise Removes Dogecoin ETF
Bitwise said it had decided to close the ETF while continuing to “optimize its product range to meet evolving investor needs.”
The company did not explicitly blame weak demand, Dogecoin’s price decline, or the fund’s performance.
However, figures published on the official BWOW website show that the product had accumulated just $687,713 in net assets as of Sept. 9.
The fund held approximately 8.2 million DOGE and had 50,000 shares outstanding.
Its net asset value had fallen 45.37% since inception as of Aug. 30, while its market-price return was down 45.92%.
BWOW’s final day of trading is expected to be Oct. 14. Investors will be able to sell their shares on the secondary market until trading closes that day.
Any remaining Dogecoin held by the fund will then be converted into cash.
Shareholders who remain in BWOW will automatically receive the net asset value of their holdings, with the distribution scheduled for Oct. 22.
The closure is a striking reversal from the enthusiasm surrounding BWOW’s launch.
In November, Bitwise described Dogecoin as an “icon of the crypto movement” and said millions of DOGE holders wanted access through an exchange-traded product.
Can Dogecoin Ever Reach $1?
Dogecoin’s road to $1 has become significantly steeper since its 2021 peak.
DOGE currently trades at around $0.084, with a market capitalization of approximately $14.4 billion and a circulating supply of 171.6 billion tokens.
From that price, Dogecoin would need to climb approximately 1,090% — or increase almost twelvefold — to reach $1.
Assuming its circulating supply remained close to current levels, a $1 price would give Dogecoin a market capitalization of roughly $172 billion.
The target is not mathematically impossible, particularly in a market known for extreme speculative rallies.
However, it would require substantially more demand than the market is currently showing.
Dogecoin’s all-time high remains approximately $0.74, recorded in May 2021.
The token has never returned anywhere near that peak, with its strongest subsequent rally taking it to almost $0.50 in late 2024 before the price reversed again.
Motley Fool contributor Dominic Basulto recently argued that DOGE’s chances of reaching $1 within the next 12 months were minimal.
He noted that prediction markets assigned a 3% probability to DOGE reaching $1 by January 2027.
Dogecoin Is No Longer Moving on Every Musk Post
Dogecoin’s rise was once almost inseparable from Elon Musk.
Tweets describing DOGE as the “people’s crypto,” references to the token reaching the Moon, and Musk’s self-appointed “Dogefather” persona regularly triggered rapid price movements during the 2021 bull market.
The Tesla chief also previously discussed accepting Dogecoin through his companies.
Tesla began allowing customers to purchase selected merchandise with DOGE, while SpaceX accepted the token as payment for the DOGE-1 lunar mission.
That influence has weakened considerably.
In 2025, CCN reported that Dogecoin was beginning to decouple from Musk’s social media activity and to follow Bitcoin’s direction more closely.
Research from CoinGecko found that Musk’s posts did not appear to influence DOGE’s price as strongly as they had in previous cycles.
Musk Association Brought DOGE Controversy
While Musk’s connection to Dogecoin brought enormous publicity, it also placed the token at the center of repeated controversy.
The clearest example came during Musk’s appearance on Saturday Night Live in May 2021.
DOGE had surged in anticipation of the broadcast, but its price fell as much as 36% after Musk jokingly agreed with a cast member who described the crypto as a “hustle.”
Investors later filed a $258 billion lawsuit accusing Musk and Tesla of manipulating Dogecoin through social-media posts and alleged trading activity.
The complaint cited Musk’s tweets, his Saturday Night Live appearance and Twitter’s temporary replacement of its blue-bird logo with the Dogecoin mascot in 2023.
The logo change briefly sent DOGE up approximately 30%.
A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice in August 2024.
The judge found that Musk’s statements about Dogecoin becoming the future currency of Earth or being flown to the Moon were “aspirational and puffery.”
DOGE In Government?
Dogecoin was pulled into another controversy when President Donald Trump’s administration adopted the acronym DOGE for the Department of Government Efficiency.
The government initiative had no operational or financial connection to the crypto, but the shared name helped push Dogecoin toward $0.50 following Trump’s 2024 election victory.
However, it also tied the DOGE brand to politically divisive government cuts and mass layoffs surrounding Musk’s role in the initiative.
What had started for the love of a meme, Musk’s mainstream push of the coin brought it into the vulnerable world of his political standing.
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The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as, financial advice. We do not make any warranties regarding the completeness, reliability, or accuracy of this information. All investments involve risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. We recommend consulting a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
