- Ask The Doctor started off by integrating Dogecoin claiming its low fees make it ideal for payments on its telehealth platform.
- It then conducted a poll between Floki Inu and Shiba Inu, and despite the latter winning, it decided to add both as payment options.
Long live the memes! This is the message that a Canadian telehealth startup is broadcasting to the world after integrating three of the most popular meme coins for payments. Ask The Doctor has added Dogecoin, Shiba Inu and Floki Inu for payments at a time when the three have been gaining traction in real-life uses as they shed off the “joke coin” moniker.
When Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus created Dogecoin, they had no idea that their joke coin would become a legitimate payment option. But it is, and its latest application is in the medical services field.
Dogecoin accepeted for healthcare services with our partners starting Monday ….$doge #dogecoin @elonmusk @mcuban @BillyM2k @dogecoin @kevinolearytv @ProTheDoge @MattWallace888 @Krypto_Kyle @MikeDavisYT pic.twitter.com/mypM0K1vtL
— Ask The Doctor ® (@askthedr) November 17, 2021
Ask The Doctor is a Canadian telehealth platform and medical information website. It was founded in 2014 by former NHL star Israel Idonije, NBA All-Star Dikembe Mutombo and three other doctors. It first gained global recognition in May 2015 when it sprung to action to help the people of Nepal following a devastating earthquake that killed over 130 people and left over 3,200 homeless.
The platform has grown aggressively since then and has acquired other startups such as Sehat, India’s largest medical resource and Patients Connected, A British patients platform.
Following the announcement, Ask The Doctor explained that one of the biggest reasons that it took to DOGE was its very low transaction fees.
Why we are choosing to accept #dogecoin as a means to pay for healthcare services. https://t.co/E7djwQzOiT
— Ask The Doctor ® (@askthedr) November 14, 2021
And for all those that attack Dogecoin as nothing but a meme coin without utility, the platform had a response:
Money is nothing but imagined reality. If someone wants to pay for services using a “dog token” and a business like ours is willing to accept it for something as important as healthcare services….then that is all that matters.
Prakash Chand, one of the founders of the platforms, is even convinced that through initiatives like this, DOGE can even hit a higher market cap than Bitcoin in due time.
“I’m convinced DOGE will have the highest utility as a global currency because of their speed to settle a transaction and low fees per transaction,” he stated.
And the platform didn’t stop there. It lobbied the Dogefather, Elon Musk, and Dogecoin founder Billy Markus to kickstart a fund that would pool resources together in DOGE geared towards helping people in third-world countries who can’t afford basic healthcare.
Shortly after announcing that it would integrate Dogecoin for payments, Ask The Doctor held an online poll asking its community which cryptocurrency they wanted next, with Floki Inu and Shiba Inu being the options. And even though Shiba Inu won, it decided to add both as payment options.
Looks like we have to add $shib as well…. Ask The Doctor , pay for healthcare services with $doge , $shib and $floki ….long live the memes! https://t.co/qJG9B5mCIj
— Ask The Doctor ® (@askthedr) November 23, 2021
Ask The Doctor already accepts Bitcoin and five other cryptocurrencies as payment. At the time, the platform claimed that Bitcoin would add an extra layer of privacy for its patients and would extend its services to users who didn’t have a credit card.
It said:
Our overall goal is to democratize access to health care, and offering Bitcoin is consistent with this goal.