DogeOS opened its public testnet on September 30, offering developers an EVM-compatible layer for Dogecoin that uses DOGE to pay transaction fees. The rollout follows a $6.9 million funding round announced in May 2025. The platform enables testing of trading, lending, stablecoin, prediction-market and gaming applications. Current validation relies on a set of validators, a trusted execution environment and a permissioned sequencer. A proposed upgrade to Dogecoin Core would add native ZK-proof verification, but the change has not yet been implemented. CEO Jordan Jefferson said the team will announce a mainnet timeline after reaching additional development milestones. Under the current design, state transitions require valid proofs, signatures from a majority of validators and a signer operating within a trusted execution environment. The network does not yet verify ZK proofs directly on Dogecoin, according to the CEO’s remarks. Developers can use the testnet to build and test products before the mainnet launch. The company highlighted projects such as Barkswap, which is creating a liquidity engine, Superposition Finance, developing a lending protocol, and Derps, working on a perpetual exchange. It also listed Split Markets, building non-liquidatable options, and USDoge, a collateralized debt position stablecoin. Additional applications mentioned include Snag, a prediction-market aggregator, and launchpads from Anoncoin and Starbase, as well as games and consumer products from Doge Escape, PlaysOut and DogeFundMe. Availability of features will depend on each project’s development schedule. Jefferson told The Block that network validation and developer testing are the immediate priorities, with the mainnet timeline to be shared as milestones are reached. Native proof verification still depends on a future Dogecoin upgrade. The proposed change, submitted in July 2025, would allow Dogecoin miners to verify execution proofs directly, but it remains unimplemented. Dogecoin Foundation director Timothy Stebbing voiced support for developers building on the network, describing an ambition for startup activity rather than a count of existing companies. He said he hopes DogeOS will become a springboard for new utility engineering and attract the next wave of startups. The project’s funding comes from the team behind the MyDoge wallet, which raised the $6.9 million round led by Polychain Capital in May 2025. Earlier coverage noted that the funds would support platform launch, developer tools and partnerships, with a focus on gaming, artificial intelligence and decentralized finance. In a separate development, Bitwise scheduled the closure of its Dogecoin ETF (BWOW) for U.S. investors, with the final trading day set for October 14, 2025, and cash distributions expected around October 22 based on the fund’s October 21 net asset value. The SEC filing describes the distributions as taxable events and advises shareholders to consult tax advisers. A different bridge project, Psy, is building a Dogecoin-to-Solana bridge that verifies Dogecoin block headers and proof-of-work data on Solana, aiming to let DOGE holders access DeFi, NFTs and gaming applications on Solana without selling their tokens.