The aftermath of the "1011" cryptocurrency market crash has not dissipated, and the daily drop of over 30% in Dogecoin's candlestick chart is still painful to behold. As 1.62 million investors' liquidation orders pile up on trading platforms, and $9.6 billion in principal evaporates overnight, the "joke currency" frenzy that began in 2013 is once again thrust into the spotlight: is it the value belief of community believers who talk about going to the moon, or is it a carefully designed harvesting trap by people like Musk?
Believers' carnival: Can the "people's currency" really make a comeback?
In the Dogecoin enthusiast community, "consensus is value" is an unbreakable truth. From an internet meme symbol to a cryptocurrency with a market cap of $28 billion, they firmly believe that Dogecoin's accessibility and large community are its strongest moats. "Musk says it's the people's cryptocurrency, and both SpaceX and Tesla accept payments; isn't that enough?" one investor posted a screenshot of their holdings on social media, captioned "Great buying opportunity, waiting for takeoff."
Supporting this confidence are the faint applications of imagination. Although there are no technical breakthroughs, the news that Cardano's founder actively proposed to assist in transforming Dogecoin made supporters see the possibility of a technological upgrade; the rumors that Musk's X platform plans to make DOGE the ecological standard token are further interpreted as an 'upcoming super benefit'. In their eyes, the price fluctuation approaching $0.1 in 2025 is just a temporary adjustment, just like countless times of 'rebound after a crash', the window for bottom-fishing disappears in an instant.
The truth is harsh: this is a harvesting game of 'clear cards'.
The skepticism of opponents, however, is hidden in the details of on-chain data and the tragedy of crashes. Musk's joking response that 'Dogecoin is a scam' once caused it to plummet by 38.6% in a single day, while the 'dual operation' in 2025 further exposed the nature of the capital game: six hours before he warned retail investors to stay away from Meme coins on a podcast, SpaceX secretly increased its holdings of 20 million DOGE, and then used the news of 'Tesla enabling DOGE payments' to pump and cash out, completing a precise harvest. This billionaire, jokingly referred to as the 'father of Dogecoin', privately calls it an 'electronic pet' and openly states that it is a game of 'playing house'.
The market's fragility is even more brutal. Dogecoin has neither underlying technological innovation nor value anchors, and its price completely relies on emotions and manipulation. The crash on October 11, 2025, created a record of $19.1 billion in liquidations in just 24 hours, and such fluctuations have long been the norm—its annual volatility reaches 40%, far exceeding Bitcoin and Ethereum. According to Chainalysis, 15% of Dogecoin transactions are controlled by 'whales', and the characteristics of small-cap coins make price manipulation easy.
Core of the controversy: Who is paying for the 'faith'?
The focus of the debate has never been 'whether it can soar', but 'who should bear the cost'. Supporters believe that excessive regulation will stifle innovation, interpreting Musk's reduced investment in DOGE as a 'short-term adjustment', hoping that the advancement of autonomous driving technology will boost Tesla's stock price and subsequently support the coin price; but opponents point out that regulatory gaps are the root of chaos, and the IMF predicts that over 50% of countries will tighten crypto regulation by 2025, a signal that has long sounded the alarm.
The most innocent are the following retail investors. Some were lured by 'analysts' false messages, losing their 200,000 principal; some used ten times leverage to bottom-fish, only to wake up and find their accounts cleared. When the slogan of 'going to the moon' was shattered by liquidation texts, all that remained was the cold reality: this game, carried out in the name of 'people's currency', ultimately serves as a cash machine for a few.
Currently, Dogecoin's price struggles at the $0.1 mark, while Musk's attention has turned to Tesla's performance, but the market's revelry and wailing continue to circulate. Perhaps, as someone commented under a liquidation post: 'You think you're betting on faith, but you're just a pawn on someone else's chessboard.' The end of this controversy has never been about the rise and fall of coin prices, but when can we stop using the hard-earned money of ordinary people to pay for the capital game.
