As of now, after Ethereum’s change of consensus mechanism towards Proof of Stake, Dogecoin (DOGE) is the second-largest Proof-of-Work blockchain in crypto space. In terms of market capitalization, the DOGE blockchain is almost twice the size of Ethereum Classic and is well ahead of Litecoin or Monero. However, it is questionable whether the memecoin can catch up with the first-placed Bitcoin.
The Ethereum Merge puts pressure on proof-of-work blockchains like DOGE to change their consensus mechanism as well. There was already at the end of last year suggestions within the Dogecoin Foundation to switch the blockchain to Proof of Stake – so far unsuccessful.