The first meme coin, Dogecoin (DOGE), became popular among investors due to support from billionaire Elon Musk and hype from its community.
While Dogecoin undoubtedly captured the hearts and minds of investors earlier this year, it may not be as popular as people think it is, according to a Reserve Bank of Australia official, The Canberra Times reports.
Tony Richards, head of payments at the RBA, has questioned the veracity of polls that display high rates of cryptocurrency adoption. He particularly mentioned one recent survey, which shows that 5% of all Australians own meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin. Richards explains that such online polls likely exclude older people and areas with poor internet connectivity.
In October, Finder’s Cryptocurrency Adoption study reported that Dogecoin (DOGE) is Australia’s fourth most popular crypto. In addition, the study revealed that 4.1% of the Australian population holds Dogecoin. In the United States, the DOGE adoption rate is as high as 30.6%.
Doge Isn’t All That Popular Despite being in the top 10 largest cryptos, a Reserve Bank of Australia official believes that the Dogecoin popularity and adoption rate in Australia is over exaggerated.
The head of payments at the Reserve Bank of Australia noted that he does not yet see stores that post their prices in cryptocurrencies, companies that do their annual reports in cryptocurrencies, or a large number of people who want to receive payments in cryptocurrencies. He also believes that investors will be more vigilant about the risks associated with cryptocurrencies, such as regulatory uncertainty, cryptocurrencies impact on the environment and criminal cases.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao participated in a Q&A with Associated Press where he shared his thoughts on the most popular meme coin in the market. For Zhao, he does not understand Dogecoin or how it works really but explains that what he thinks of the digital asset does not matter in the grand scheme of things. This is one of the advantages of a decentralized ecosystem.
“If a large enough number of people in the community values it because it’s cute because they like the meme, then it has value,” Zhao pointed out. The CEO added that an asset only needs one other person who is willing to buy it to be valuable and since people are willing to purchase meme coins, then they are valuable. “For something to have liquidity, you need a large number of people to want to buy it or sell it. Once you have liquidity, a thing has value, according to the neutral market. So it’s not up to me to judge it.”