$DOGS Memecoin : Overview and Timeline
The Dogs (“DOGS”) memecoin was a TON-based token launched in mid-2024 that quickly drew massive interest and then collapsed amid fraud allegations. In July 2024, crypto observers already warned that DOGS – promoted as a “native” Telegram/Toncoin token – was being aggressively marketed via Telegram airdrops and community hype. Its developers offered free Telegram “mini-app” airdrops and used Pavel Durov’s dog mascot “Spotty” to stoke FOMO, amassing millions of eager users. Indeed, Cointelegraph reports that the DOGS mini-app had over 53 million Telegram users (42M eligible) and that 17 million ultimately claimed the airdrop. Telegram Wallet logs showed “over 10 million” distinct users swapping DOGS in the first hours. In sum, DOGS was thrust into public view via viral Telegram campaigns and social media buzz – even before any formal exchange listings.
Timeline of Major Events
July 2024: DOGS token promotion heats up. Crypto blogs note DOGS is being hyped via Telegram airdrops and a large online community, with little official information. (No major exchange listing yet; the project is unverified and considered risky.)
Aug 20-25, 2024: Binance Launchpool + Airdrop. Binance opens a Launchpool for DOGS (Aug 23–25) allowing users to stake BNB/FDUSD for token rewards. 22 billion DOGS (4% of 550B total supply) is earmarked for the Launchpool, while 72% of supply (roughly 396B tokens) is allocated for community airdrops. Reports say 8 million users signed up for the DOGS airdrop, prompting Binance to finalize the trading launch for Aug 26, 2024 (UTC).
Aug 26, 2024 (Noon UTC): Binance Listing. Binance officially lists DOGS (DOGS/USDT, etc.). In an announcement, Binance confirmed adding DOGS to its platform and services that day. As soon as trading opened, the rush from airdrop recipients caused major disruptions: Bybit and Binance both reported service outages as ~440 billion DOGS tokens flooded the market. (Telegram Wallet also overloaded, per its alerts.) Adding to the chaos, the MEXC exchange controversially opened DOGS trading about 30 minutes earlier than Binance, briefly pricing DOGS at ~10× the Binance price.
Aug 27–28, 2024: TON Network Outages. The On-Chain Network (TON) struggled under DOGS traffic. Cointelegraph and TON developers confirmed the network halted block production (over 12 hours offline) due to a frenzy of DOGS transactions. DOGS saw an enormous surge in volume (about $1.7 billion in the first 10 hours) and the network briefly collapsed. Exchanges halted TON transactions to stabilize systems.
Aug 28–30, 2024: Price Spike and Crash. DOGS price rocketed on listing day, peaking around $0.0018–0.0018 per token, giving a market cap of roughly $890–891 million. Four days later (by Aug 30), observers report DOGS had plunged ~30–55%. Cointelegraph notes DOGS hit an all-time high of $0.0016 on Aug 28, but by late August it was down ~54.6% from that peak🥴. BeinCrypto likewise documented a ~25% drop within hours of listing as airdrop winners immediately sold. Nevertheless, even after the crash DOGS briefly remained in the top 100 by market cap (around $614 million post-sell-off).
Late 2024: The hype died down. Major crypto outlets noted the collapse, and DOGS even announced philanthropic initiatives – e.g. a $4.5 million donation of unclaimed airdrop tokens to charities (6 billion DOGS) in Dec 2024. However, by year-end DOGS price was far below its peak.
May 2025: A lavish marketing event: at the Token2049 conference, DOGS (with another memecoin) funded a 1,500-drone light show in Dubai, earning a Guinness World Record. This episode underscored how DOGS marshaled community funds into flashy promotion even after its collapse.
2025 and Beyond: DOGS remains traded on TON and smaller exchanges at a tiny fraction of its peak price. The long-term fallout and any regulatory scrutiny are still unfolding.
Promotion and Social Media Hype
DOGS was marketed almost exclusively through community channels. Its creators ran an aggressive Telegram campaign: users were enticed to claim a free airdrop via a mini-app (based on Telegram’s Toncoin integration), requiring only Telegram account age/verification. As Bittime noted, hype was heavy: promises of “fantastic profits” and FOMO-laden messages flooded chats. DOGS used the story of Pavel Durov’s pet dog “Spotty” (the mascot of Telegram founder Durov) as part of its branding to attract fans. A Chainalysis report notes millions joined quickly: at launch the DOGS mini-app had 53M users (42M eligible), with 17M claiming tokens. Popular crypto influencers and thousands of social media posts (e.g. on Twitter/X and specialized Telegram groups) amplified the buzz with hashtags like #DOGSOnBinance. This viral promotion funneled vast numbers of retail investors into the project – largely without revealing the team or detailed plans.
Binance Listing and Market Impact
The Binance listing on Aug 26, 2024 was pivotal. Binance itself announced DOGS would be supported on various services that day. On listing, DOGS traded in multiple pairs (USDT, BNB, etc.) and was added to margin/trading products. This gave DOGS instant visibility and credibility to retail traders. Trading volume exploded: within the first 24 hours DOGS had over $631 million volume (15th-highest of all cryptos that day). The surge strained exchange infrastructure – Binance and Bybit experienced outages just as DOGS airdrops hit wallets.
Binance’s launchpool program (Aug 23–25) funneled even more users into DOGS by allowing free token farming: roughly 22 billion DOGS were awarded to stakers, and Binance reported that about 8 million verified users participated in the airdrop. When DOGS trading finally began on Aug 26, 516.75B of the 550B total supply (93.95%) was in circulation. The immediate effect was a price explosion (to about $0.0018) and then a precipitous fall. Exchanges also noted irregularities: for example, MEXC listed DOGS one hour early at a much higher price, disadvantaging later buyers.
Price Collapse and Insider Selling
Almost immediately after DOGS’ launch frenzy, insiders and early holders dumped large quantities, triggering a crash. Within hours of reaching its high, DOGS slid sharply (BeInCrypto reports ~25% in a few hours; Cointelegraph notes a fall of over 50% by month’s end). By early September the market cap had collapsed from roughly $890M to a fraction of that. Binance community analysts warned that large unlocked reserves made such a sell-off predictable: one contributor noted exchanges held “a large amount of #DOGS tokens with no lockup,” making a dump almost certain. Indeed, DOGS’ tokenomics (72% airdrop, minimal vesting for founders) meant its developers and early supporters could sell into the rally with impunity. The crash left many retail holders sitting on tokens worth only pennies. In total, observers estimate the team and insiders captured on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars at peak.
Investor Reactions and Losses
Investors reacted with anger and alarm. Throughout late Aug and Sep 2024, traders on Twitter/X, Telegram and forums cried “scam” and lamented losses. Binance users posted that millions of dollars had evaporated – market cap fell from ~$700M to ~$70M – and demanded that exchanges refund or investigate the rug pull. (For example, one Binance user exclaiming that “investors lost millions” as DOGS collapsed to a fraction of its launch cap.) Crypto news sites noted the situation as a textbook pump-and-dump: DOGS was used as “exit liquidity” for early insiders. Some analysts and Binance posts explicitly warned traders that DOGS exhibited red flags (anonymous team, no whitepaper, no lock-ups) and was highly susceptible to a pump-and-dump scheme. By late 2024, most reviews of DOGS concluded it had defrauded retail holders – similar to other memecoin scams – with no realistic prospects for recovery.
Estimating precise losses is difficult, but given DOGS peaked near a $900M market cap and then traded near 90% lower, retail holders collectively lost hundreds of millions. Media reports and community posts called for legal action: some asked if a class-action or Binance intervention was warranted. However, as of this writing no formal regulatory actions or lawsuits targeting the DOGS project have been reported. Public discussion of DOGS did feed into broader calls for scrutiny of memecoins, and even Binance research posts highlighted DOGS as an example of the pitfalls of new coin listings.
Use of Community Funds on Marketing and Events
Despite (or perhaps because of) the crash, the DOGS project continued to pour resources into high-profile promotions. In late 2024 the team launched a charitable initiative, pledging to donate over 6 billion DOGS tokens (≈$4.5 million) of unclaimed airdrop tokens to animal welfare charities. This included a $150,000 partnership with the Best Friends Animal Society and using the DOGS mascot (“Spotty”) in charity events. Observers noted this was essentially a marketing gesture to rehabilitate the project’s image using leftover tokens.
More extravagant was the mid-2025 Token2049 event: DOGS (paired with Notcoin) financed a 1,500-drone light-show in Dubai, setting a Guinness World Record. The project publicized this as a landmark publicity stunt, but critics argued it was funded by the community treasury rather than organic development. In sum, a non-trivial portion of DOGS’ token supply (originally meant for community incentives) was spent on marketing spectacles post-launch.
Investigations, Legal Actions, and Public Response
To date, there have been no public regulatory investigations or enforcement actions specifically against the DOGS token or its promoters. Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov was indeed arrested in France in August 2024, but that was unrelated (the timing coincided with DOGS’ debut and led to some conspiracy on social media). Instead, scrutiny has been mostly informal. Crypto media and analysts have repeatedly flagged DOGS as a fraud: for example, Binance’s own community analysts labeled it a likely “pump-and-dump” target. Public outcry (hashtags like #CryptoScam or #BoycottDogMemes) pressured Binance and other exchanges to warn users. Binance responded by tightening airdrop/fairness measures (freezing suspected airdrop abusers) and reaffirming that users should do due diligence.
In summary, DOGS has become emblematic of the memecoin scourge. Credible sources report that its meteoric rise and fall extracted ~$800–$900 million from the market, and analysts call it a “massive scam”. 🥴
🤫 While some promoters still spin charity or community uses, the prevailing consensus is that DOGS was a highly dubious project that ultimately enriched insiders at the expense of ordinary investors.
Sources: Industry news and analytics reports from Cointelegraph, BeInCrypto, CryptoNews, Binance research/blog posts, and official Binance announcements. These document the timeline, trading data, warnings, and actions surrounding the DOGS coin saga.
