[DigitalToday reporter Yoonseo Lee] Dogecoin has launched Dogecoin Labs, a dedicated unit to build its ecosystem.

According to blockchain media outlet Decrypt on Oct. 21, the reshuffle was carried out with the Dogecoin Foundation and focuses on increasing real-world use, which has been seen as lacking despite the token's high profile.

Dogecoin Labs consolidates products, intellectual property (IP) and development organisations that had been scattered across the Dogecoin ecosystem into a single entity. It will directly operate MyDoge, the DogeOS platform and Such App, a merchant payments tool. Related assets and personnel were transferred from the Dogecoin Foundation and House of Doge.

Dogecoin is considered one of the leading memecoins in terms of liquidity, number of holders and community size, but it has been seen as having relatively few real services and businesses built on that base. Chief executive Jordan Jefferson (조던 제퍼슨) said it would expand into wallets, payments, commerce, trading, decentralised finance (DeFi), games, artificial intelligence (AI) and social apps.

Jefferson cited liquidity, community and cultural impact as Dogecoin's strengths, and said no other digital asset has the same strengths as Dogecoin. He said its potential has not been fully utilised, adding that it was time to build an ecosystem that matches the community's long-standing "Dogecoin $1" slogan.

The launch follows recent groundwork. DogeOS opened a public testnet on Sept. 30 and provided developers with an Ethereum-compatible environment. MyDoge surpassed 500,000 users without securing paid users, and connected wallets and the related apps through a V3 update. The plan is to add Such App's merchant payment function and build a structure linking developers, users and businesses.

The Dogecoin Foundation will continue to support governance, support open source and serve an external advocacy role. Dogecoin Labs, meanwhile, will be dedicated to developing commercial products. It is a structure aimed at running the ecosystem and expanding products in parallel by separating the roles of the foundation and the business organisation.

The launch of Dogecoin Labs is seen as a move that puts more weight on reshaping the ecosystem than on a price rebound. A key question going forward is whether Dogecoin can translate its large community and liquidity into demand for real services.