Dogecoin Unleashes Layer 2 Capabilities with Chikyū Testnet Launch
Dogecoin has taken a significant step forward in its development with the launch of DogeOS Chikyū, a public testnet that adds an EVM-compatible Layer 2 application environment built around ZK-rollup technology. This move is designed to extend Dogecoin's utility beyond price speculation and enable developers to build smart contracts and DeFi applications around native DOGE.
The new layer processes computation away from Dogecoin's base layer while using zero-knowledge proofs to connect activity back to the underlying network, increasing throughput from roughly 30 transactions per second on Dogecoin to around 300 TPS. Developers can work with familiar Ethereum tooling, including Hardhat, Foundry, EthersJS, and Remix.
The economic design of DogeOS avoids introducing a separate network token, instead using DOGE as the native gas asset for transaction fees and smart contract deployment. This approach ties application demand to the original asset rather than creating a parallel token economy.
Early applications on Chikyū include Barkswap for liquidity, Superposition Finance for lending, Derps for perpetual futures, USDoge as an algorithmic stablecoin, and gaming projects Doge Escape and Doxx Arcade. The project has previously raised $6.9 million in seed funding led by Polychain Capital.