Fintech company Metallicus has deployed an alpha version of the DogecoinVM payment layer on mainnet, making Dogecoin transactions 300 times faster, according to an announcement on October 7, 2026. CEO and Dogecoin Foundation board member Marshall Hayner said the launch directly addresses the scalability challenge that Elon Musk highlighted in 2021, when he called on the crypto community to increase Dogecoin's throughput so it could function as a global payment method.
Instead of modifying Dogecoin Core, Metallicus built an independent parallel layer on top of the Metal Blockchain infrastructure. Hayner emphasized that DogecoinVM does not create a new coin or alter Dogecoin Core itself, and it fully preserves the original UTXO model. Existing Dogecoin wallets and private keys work the same way, with native compatibility for "D"-format addresses, so users do not need to change wallets.
The speed increase comes from replacing energy-intensive Proof-of-Work with the Snowman consensus protocol, a Proof-of-Stake system. This reduces transaction finalization time to 0.15–0.25 seconds and makes throughput independent of strict block-size limits. The mechanism operates like a two-way bridge: original DOGE is locked on the main network, while a collateral-backed equivalent is issued inside DogecoinVM at a 1:1 ratio and can be withdrawn instantly.
Metallicus said the system is live in alpha/beta on Metal Blockchain mainnet but capped for safety, with individual deposits limited to 100 DOGE. The source code is available on GitHub, but the system has not yet undergone an independent security audit. The company is also working on SOC 2 security standards for the banking sector. Hayner said the broader goal is practical use in fintech, banks, credit unions, and platforms, including potential integration with the payment services of social network X.
