Who owns and controls the Dogecoin Network?

One of the wonderful things about Dogecoin is that no-one, or no corporate entity, “owns” the Dogecoin blockchain: it is entirely open-source, permissionless, decentralised, and peer-to-peer.

The Dogecoin network is “controlled” by the network of nodes through which it operates. Anyone can run a node, and to learn how to do so, click here. Some nodes also mine Dogecoin, meaning they perform computational work as part of the process to both confirm all transactions up to the next block, and the next block. They are rewarded for this work with a block reward.

Dogecoin nodes function via a decentralised consensus mechanism to prevent malicious actors from gaining control over the network. Simply put, if more than half of all nodes on the Dogecoin blockchain ‘agree’ that a transaction is valid, then the transaction is processed and stored in the blockchain.

This decentralised control via nodes ensures that Dogecoin transactions are securely processed peer-to-peer without the need for a controlling centralised party, like a bank.

Cool, huh?