Here's Why Dogecoin Is Up 15% This Week

You can now buy and sell Dogecoin at 1,800 crypto ATMs.

Dogecoin's (DOGE) price has been in the doghouse recently. Most cryptocurrencies have struggled in recent months, but Dogecoin has really floundered -- the popular meme token is still down 80% on its all-time high. Even a March 13 tweet from self-proclaimed Dogefather Elon Musk did little to boost its price.

As a result, Dogecoin fans will likely take heart from this week's price action. DOGE has risen over 17% in the past seven days, and is up about 7% in the past 24 hours. According to CoinMarketCap, Dogecoin is trading at $0.1372 at time of writing -- higher than it's been in the past 30 days.

What's driving Dogecoin's price increase?

One reason DOGE's price is up is that crypto prices are starting to recover across the board. The market capitalization for the entire crypto market has just passed the $2 trillion mark, which hasn't occurred since the beginning of March.

But that's not the only reason. Bitcoin of America, which has over 1,800 Bitcoin ATMs across the country, announced it will add Dogecoin to its network. This means you can use its ATMs to buy and sell Dogecoin, along with Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC).

Bitcoin ATMs are one of several ways to buy cryptocurrency. Investors can also use cryptocurrency exchanges, apps, or brokerages to access a range of different digital assets. Check out our list of top cryptocurrency apps and exchanges for more options.

Dogecoin may have started as a joke, but last year it surged in price and popularity. There's now a push to utilize its tremendous brand recognition. One way to do this would be to establish it as a form of payment. Bitcoin of America's move to include DOGE is another step in this journey.

According to Cryptwerk, over 2,000 merchants now accept Dogecoin. To put that in context, over 7,800 accept Bitcoin and over 4,000 accept Ethereum. Nonetheless, Dogecoin is gaining traction in this space. It also already has a bigger market cap than coins like Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) that were designed to act as digital currencies from the outset.

What this means for investors

There's a good chance that Dogecoin enthusiasts will take heart from the recent price jump. The challenge is that the token still has some fundamental issues. Most strikingly, it is extremely difficult to go back and create solid foundations for a project that was deliberately built without any. Here are three big obstacles that Dogecoin needs to overcome.

1. Dogecoin's split personality

One of the things that initially won people's hearts was that Dogecoin didn't take itself too seriously. The fun-loving crypto with its memes and jokes was more accessible than other stuffy, overly technical crypto projects. But now Dogecoin -- the so-called currency of the people -- is well and truly part of the mainstream. Plus, to succeed, it may need to shed some of the traits that made it popular.

2. Dogecoin's trademark battles

Dogecoin has been dogged by trademark pressures since it revived its nonprofit foundation last year. Essentially, because Dogecoin did not register its brand when it launched in 2013, it meant other copycat organizations could attempt to do so. A report in the National Law Review said that there are over 100 other cryptos using Dogecoin's name, one of which has created and attempted to register a different Dogecoin Foundation.

The Dogecoin team is making some headway here. At the start of March, it announced it had registered the name and logo as trademarks in the European Union. Nonetheless, the legal wrangling is a distraction from the very real work the foundation's small team needs to do.

3. Dogecoin's environmental issues

We often hear about cryptocurrency's high environmental cost. But the bulk of the damage is done by a handful of cryptos -- ones that use the proof-of-work validation model. Unfortunately, Dogecoin is one of them. According to Digiconomist, a platform that highlights the unintended consequences of digital trends, Dogecoin consumes as much energy as the entire country of El Salvador and its carbon footprint is comparable to that of The Bahamas. Dogecoin might be able to move to a different validation model, but this will take time.

Bottom line

Dogecoin is making some progress in establishing itself as a form of digital payment, and its considerable reputation and loyal community will certainly help. But the 12th biggest crypto by market cap has a ways to go. If you're a Dogecoin investor, don't get too excited about price jumps like this one. There are too many other factors that will influence its long-term success.