A Dogecoin sidechain is shutting down, and the clock is ticking to get funds out

Four Years of DeFi on Dogecoin, Coming to an End

@DogechainFamily, the EVM-compatible sidechain that brought decentralized finance and NFTs to @dogecoin, is winding down operations after roughly four years. The team cited market conditions that made the network too expensive to sustain as the primary reason for the closure.

Dogechain was built as a sidechain of Dogecoin, operating with a bridge that allowed users to transfer $DOGE to and from the Dogecoin mainnet and interact with EVM-based smart contracts. The network used DOGE as its gas token, keeping it tightly tied to the Dogecoin ecosystem rather than requiring a separate native asset.

At its core, the project gave $DOGE holders a way to use their coins across DeFi protocols, NFT marketplaces, and other decentralized applications without leaving DOGE exposure. That utility is now coming to a close.

What Holders Need to Do Before the Bridge Closes

The window to retrieve funds is limited. According to the shutdown notice issued in early June, the bridge will remain open for approximately 60 days, placing the deadline around early August 2026. After that point, the bridge goes dark permanently.

Any assets left on Dogechain after the deadline, including tokens, NFTs, liquidity positions, and any wrapped DOGE held natively on the chain, will become permanently inaccessible. There is no recovery mechanism once the bridge closes.

Users should act well ahead of the deadline to avoid congestion or last-minute technical issues. Connect your wallet to the Dogechain network, bridge all holdings back to the Dogecoin mainnet or another supported destination, and confirm the transactions are settled before the cutoff.

Sources:
Revoke.cash: Dogechain overview and bridge details
Thirdweb: Dogechain chain settings and bridge information