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BitKoala September 19th news, in September 2025, a slightly joking code flashed on the electronic screen of the New York Stock Exchange – DOJE.This cryptocurrency, marked by the Shiba Inu avatar, was just a product of programmers’ jokes eight years ago, but now it is listed on Wall Street as an exchange-traded fund (ETF) and manages hundreds of millions of dollars in assets.When the seemingly contradictory concept of “Dogcoin ETF” becomes a reality, a game of domestication between Internet memes and traditional finance officially kicked off.The essence of this domestication is not only a compromise between grassroots culture and capital power, but also an inclusion and transformation of emerging assets by the financial system.
1. Regulatory arbitrage: Compliance packaging technology for meme coins
DOJE’s listing is by no means accidental, but a carefully designed regulatory arbitrage experiment.Unlike the approval tug-of-war that took several years to review and approval, this Dogecoin ETF adopts the 1940 Investment Company Act structure and cleverly circumvents the SEC’s strict scrutiny of spot crypto ETFs by establishing a Cayman Islands subsidiary that holds 25% of Dogecoin and derivatives, and allocates the rest of its assets to compliance tools such as U.S. Treasury bonds, which cleverly circumvents the SEC’s strict scrutiny of spot crypto ETFs.This “curve-saving the country” design allows it to pass the test smoothly within a 75-day review period, becoming the first “actually used asset” ETF in the United States.
Behind this structural innovation reflects a fundamental change in the regulatory direction.Under the leadership of Trump-nominated SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, regulators’ attitude towards crypto assets has shifted from “encirclement” to “recruitment”.Compared to the tough stance of former chairman Gary Gensler’s era, the new management opened the floodgates for encrypted ETFs by simplifying listing standards.As of September 2025, nearly 100 crypto ETF applications have been awaiting approval, and DOJE’s successful launch undoubtedly provides a replicable template for similar products.The essence of this policy shift is to incorporate wild crypto assets into the traditional financial regulatory framework and exchange compliance “shackles” for market access.
Financial packaging is also reflected in the cost structure.The DOJE 1.5% management fee is far higher than the average level of Bitcoin ETF 0.25%-0.5%, which is essentially the “starter fee” for obtaining compliant identity by meme assets.What is more interesting is its tracking mechanism – although regulatory obstacles are avoided through the design of subsidiary holding assets and derivatives, it may lead to a significant deviation from the spot of Dogecoin.Data shows that the similar structure of Solana staking ETF (SSK) has experienced more than 3% tracking errors, which means that investors may be betting on “the shadow of Dogecoin” rather than the asset itself.
2. The third paradox: cultural tear during domestication
The birth of Dogecoin ETFs exposed the profound contradictions in the financialization of meme assets.The first paradox exists at the market function level: ETFs should have lowered the investment threshold, but may amplify the speculative attributes of Dogecoin.Data from Bitcoin ETF shows that the continued inflow of institutional funds does reduce asset volatility (30-day volatility dropped from 65% to 50%), but Dogecoin lacks Bitcoin’s decentralized financial infrastructure and its price relies more on community sentiment and celebrity effects.”This normalizes the collection, Dogecoin is like a beanie or a baseball card, and ETFs should serve the capital market, not the collection,” pointed out.
The cultural paradox is even more dazzling.Dogecoin was born in 2013 in the Internet joke, with the core of its community culture being the bantering spirit of “anti-financial elites”, and tip culture and charitable donations constitute a unique value identity.But the launch of ETFs has completely reconstructed this ecosystem – when institutions such as Grayscale and Fidelity become the main holders, the community logic of “holding is faith” is forced to give way to the financial logic of “net value fluctuations are profits”.DOJE allows investors to hold it through an IRA retirement account, which means Dogecoin has changed from “network game coins” to “retirement and retirement allocation assets”. The cultural tear caused by this identity transformation has triggered a fierce debate on “whether we betrayed our souls” in the Reddit forum.
The paradox of regulatory philosophy lies in hidden risks.The SEC approved DOJE as “protecting investors,” but product design may instead mask the risks.Unlike holding cryptocurrencies directly, ETF shares cannot be used for on-chain activities, and investors cannot participate in Dogecoin’s reward culture, nor can they perceive the real value flow of blockchain networks.The more hidden risk lies in the tax structure – the cross-border transaction costs and derivatives rollout fees generated by Cayman subsidiaries may erode 10%-15% of the actual income in the bull market. This “hidden loss” is just obscured by the cloak of compliance.
3. Transfer of power: The game between Wall Street and the crypto community
Behind the Dogecoin ETF is a silent transfer of power.The motivations of Wall Street institutions are obvious: By the end of 2024, Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have absorbed $175 billion, and giants such as BlackRock are in urgent need of new growth poles.Although Dogecoin lacks practical value, its market value of US$3.8 billion and its huge retail investor base constitute a market demand that cannot be ignored.Before launching DOJE, the REX-Osprey team had verified the business model of “non-mainstream cryptoasset + compliance structure” through the Solana staking ETF (SSK). This product matrix strategy is essentially to use financial tools to reap the traffic dividends of the meme economy.
The SEC’s policy shift has distinct political and economic characteristics.The friendly attitude towards cryptocurrencies during the Trump administration is in contrast to the prudence during the Biden period. Behind this swing is the struggle between traditional financial capital and technological upstarts.DOJE’s listing coincides with the eve of the 2025 US election, and Trump was even revealed to have planned to launch a personal meme coin ETF ($TRUMP), which makes crypto regulation a bargaining chip in political games.When regulators go from “risk preventers” to “market promoters”, Dogecoin ETFs become an excellent tool to test voter sentiment and capital response.
The resistance of the crypto community is fragmented.Early core developer Billy Markus sarcastically said on Twitter: “We created an anti-system joke, and now the system packages it as a financial product,” but this voice was quickly overwhelmed by the market fanaticism.Data shows that Dogecoin price rose by 13%-17% the week before DOJE’s listing. This “ETF expected arbitrage” has attracted a large number of short-term speculators and further diluted the cultural identity of the community.More symbolic is that the ETF issuer changed the Shiba Inu logo from cartoon style to “financial blue” color scheme. This kind of visual symbol domestication is a micro footnote to the transfer of power.
Conclusion: Dusk of meme or dawn of finance?
The story of Dogecoin ETF is essentially a typical example of the financial system encountered by the Internet subculture.When the community slogan of “To the Moon” becomes “price exposure” in the SEC document, and when Musk’s tweets influenced it is included in the risk disclosure of ETFs, the decentralized core of meme assets is being reshaped by the process of compliance and institutionalization.This kind of domestication may bring short-term prosperity – analysts predict that DOJE is expected to attract $1-2 billion, but in the long run, can Dogecoin, which has lost its banter and community autonomy, still be called “meme coin”?
What is more worth pondering is that this domestication model is forming a template.Following Dogecoin, the XRP ETF is following the listing, and the Trump Coin ETF is also being applied, which means that the meme economy is being converted into financial products in batches.Wall Street uses ETF, a “scalpel” to reorganize the wild genes of Internet culture, and ultimately produce “financial genetically modified products” that conform to capital logic.When Meme is no longer a spontaneous cultural expression, but becomes a quantifiable and tradable financial target, what we lose may not only be a form of entertainment, but also the last decentralized spiritual relic of the Internet.
In this game of domestication and resistance, there is no absolute winner.The moment Dogecoin wears the ETF cloak, it not only marks the mainstream stage of the Internet memes, but also announces the end of its innocence era.While the financial market has reaped new growth points, it has to swallow the bitter fruits of speculative culture.Perhaps as cryptocurrency analyst Peter Brandt said, “When Wall Street learns to speak meme language, all that is left is business.”
