House of Doge Inc. and its U.S. subsidiary must remove the word “Doge” from their corporate names by Dec. 31, 2026, under a termination agreement with the Dogecoin Foundation disclosed in a Form 8-K filed with the SEC on October 23.
The filing shows that on October 19 the two sides mutually terminated an exclusive trademark deal, eliminating exclusivity, sub-licensing rights and partnership titles. House of Doge can no longer call itself the Foundation’s “Official Corporate Arm” or “Official Commercial Partner.” The parent company, which trades on Nasdaq under the ticker HODO, is considering a corporate rebrand and plans to seek shareholder approval for a reverse stock split at its annual meeting.
Leadership changes accompanied the restructuring: CEO Marco Margiotta and CFO Charles Park resigned on October 22, and McQueen Labs chief executive Curt Hopkins took over both roles on an interim basis. On October 21, the Dogecoin Foundation launched Dogecoin Labs as its new official commercial partner under CEO Jordan Jefferson.
The replacement license is narrower. The Dogecoin Foundation and MadeUpNumbers Ltd. granted House of Doge’s subsidiary a non-exclusive license to use the DOGECOIN and DOGE marks only on three existing 21Shares products: the 21Shares Dogecoin ETF (TDOG), the 21Shares Dogecoin ETP (DOGE) and the 21Shares 2x Long Dogecoin ETF (TXXD). Any other product requires written approval on a case-by-case basis, and the marks cannot be used in corporate names, payment products or unrelated financial products. New approved products would pay the Foundation a percentage of net revenue quarterly, with no minimum royalty and no up-front fee. The license expires on October 19, 2029, without automatic renewal.
The 21Shares Dogecoin ETP has traded in euros on Xetra and Gettex since April 8, 2025, with assets of around $9.49 million. House of Doge’s subsidiary also agreed to pay a $400,000 exit fee to terminate the old deal, payable in cash, HODO shares, or both. If a missed payment is not cured within ten business days of notice, the Foundation may terminate the new license.
The filing also describes the transfer of Such App software, source code, domains and cloud infrastructure to Dogecoin Labs in exchange for $4 million worth of Labs stock at a $120 million fully diluted pre-money valuation. Dogecoin Labs will not assume the subsidiary’s liabilities, and either side can walk away if the transaction does not close within 30 days of October 19.
In parallel, House of Doge signed a binding letter of intent to acquire McQueen Labs’ MCQ Markets token platform and microlending business for $15 million; the LOI expires automatically if no definitive agreement is signed by December 15, 2026. The company went public on Nasdaq through a reverse merger with Brag House Holdings and previously partnered with Paxos. As of October 2025 it held more than 837 million DOGE with 21Shares.
On October 25, Dogecoin traded about 1.2% lower over 24 hours at roughly $0.077, while U.S. Dogecoin funds recorded net outflows of about $538,000 for the week.
