Amid the overall weakness in the cryptocurrency market, Dogecoin has recently experienced a short-term price correction. However, in the medium to long term, this cryptocurrency, which was once seen as a "joke," still shows remarkable growth potential.

Latest data shows that Dogecoin's price has decreased over the past 24 hours, with the current trading price around $0.2591. Nevertheless, its gains over the past week, month, and year have reached 29%, 69%, and 90% respectively, indicating a strong upward momentum.

What is even more interesting for investors is that a proposed technological upgrade that could completely change the Dogecoin ecosystem is currently under discussion. This proposal was put forward by the MyDoge wallet development team and aims to introduce zero-knowledge proof technology to the Dogecoin blockchain. If implemented, this would enable Dogecoin to be compatible with zk-rollups, significantly enhancing its transaction speed, reducing fees, and simultaneously improving privacy protection and scalability.

This potential technological leap can not only address the long-standing issue of Dogecoin's lack of practical application scenarios but may also pave the way for the development of decentralized applications (DApps) based on DOGE. Although it remains uncertain whether this proposal will ultimately gain the support of network validators, the community generally holds a positive attitude towards it, which will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the long-term value of Dogecoin.

From a technical analysis perspective, Dogecoin is currently in the initial stage of a weekly upward trend, having successfully broken through the previous descending channel. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) remains at a healthy level of around 60, indicating that it has not yet entered the overbought zone. Meanwhile, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) is about to turn positive for the first time in months, which is typically seen as a precursor to a strong upward signal.

Considering these positive factors, market analysts remain optimistic about the future prospects of Dogecoin. If the aforementioned technical upgrade proposal is successfully passed and implemented, Dogecoin is likely to reach new highs this year. Conservatively, its price is expected to reach around $0.3 by the end of August, and it may even climb to the level of $0.5 by the end of the year.

However, investors must remember that the cryptocurrency market is highly volatile, and any investment decision should be based on a thorough understanding of the risks. As the Dogecoin ecosystem continues to develop and improve, its long-term value will increasingly depend on the expansion of practical application scenarios and the improvement of user adoption.