DOGE

Dogecoin

What happens when a joke becomes reality? Dogecoin was created in 2013 as a way to poke fun at the crypto industry; it is now one of the largest cryptocurrencies in the world. But how did we get here?

What is Dogecoin?

The name Dogecoin comes from the internet meme 'doge'. Initially intended as a mockery of the industry, it quickly developed a vibrant and dedicated community around it. It has taken a long time since 2013 for its market capitalisation to reach $9 billion following price spikes in early 2021.

Who created it?

Jackson Palmer, an employee at Adobe, couldn't believe how much altcoin had surfaced in 2013. As a kind of joke, he posted a tweet saying he had invested in Dogecoin - a coin based on a meme depicting the popular Siba Inu dog breed. Although he was only tweeting in jest, many people thought he was really up to something. It was thought that the industry needed a fun token to counteract the controversial coins on offer. So Palmer teamed up with Billy Markus, a programmer, to make Dogecoin a reality. "It's always been like a hobby project, kind of a side project kind of thing," Palmer told Decrypt back in 2018.

However, a community quickly formed around the cryptocurrency, and it was taken much further than Palmer had ever expected.

A brief history of Dogecoin

• December 2013 - Jackson Palmer creates Dogecoin.

• March 2014 - The Dogecoin community raises $55,000 in DOGE to support NASCAR driver Josh Wise.

• June 2014 - The Dogecoin Foundation is created to maintain the Dogecoin code.

• April 2015 - Co-founder Jackson Palmer leaves Dogecoin.

• January 2018 - Dogecoin's market capitalization reaches just over $2 billion.

• July 2020 - thanks to a popular TikTok challenge, Dogecoin's trading volume shoots up, the exchange rate rises 96%, but the frenzy quickly subsides.

• January 2021 - Dogecoin's total market value exceeds $9 billion thanks to the SatoshiStreetBets sub-reddit.

Interesting facts about Dogecoin

Billy Markus, co-founder of Dogecoin, is nicknamed "Sibetoshi Nakamoto". This is a combination of the meme dog breed behind Dogecoin and the name of the mysterious creator of Bitcoin.

What is so special about Dogecoin?

• Speed and cost - Dogecoin operates with fast transactions and low fees - both of which are fundamental to its acceptance.

• Infinite supply - Dogecoin was originally designed to hold up to 100 billion, but this was later changed to infinity. Despite this, the exchange rate is considered relatively stable.

• Community - The heart of Dogecoin lies in its active community. The r/dogecoin subreddit has over 300,000 members, who are known for welcoming all newcomers.

• Philanthropy - But this same community is also known for their love of getting behind noble causes. They previously raised more than $25,000 to help a cash-strapped Jamaican bobsled team qualify for the 2014 Winter Olympics. As part of the Doge4Water initiative, they are also working with a charity that aims to provide access to clean drinking water for as many people as possible in Kenya.

How does Dogecoin work

Despite Dogecoin's never-ending token issuance, its exchange rate remains relatively stable. However, the downside is that the price tends to stay at low levels.

Most people enter the crypto market for investment purposes. The hope is that if they hold a token long enough and persistently enough, they will be able to sell it for more than they bought it for.

But this is not the case with Dogecoin. Because the supply available is high and the exchange rate low, it is not attractive to investors who want to invest in it as a currency. The result is a highly liquid, free-flowing peer-to-peer currency.

What can we do with Dogecoin?

Dogecoin is mainly used in online reward systems. If you like something someone has posted on a Dogecoin Reddit community, you can throw some Dogecoins at them. Thanks to this, Dogecoin has a friendly reputation among communities. You can also trade it against other cryptocurrencies on various exchanges, which has made it a popular medium of exchange for people to move their wealth from one exchange to another.

How to mine Dogecoins?

Like many other cryptocurrencies, Dogecoin can be mined. It was created using the same proof-of-work hashing algorithm as Litecoin, called Scrypt, which requires much less computing power than mining Bitcoin. Mining Dogecoin is considered to be much easier than Bitcoin, as the latter has already developed a very high level of competition among miners. On the other hand, considering the price difference between the two coins, the reward is also lower for Dogecoin. Mining can be done on Windows, Mac and Linux, and various applications and settings are available for the activity. However, it is also worth considering joining a mining pool instead of mining alone. This means joining forces with other mining users in the network. The rewards are smaller in this case, but potentially more stable when compared to mining alone.

Hong Kong's BitMEX crypto exchange has launched its Dogecoin-based no expiry contracts, allowing users to bet on the future exchange rate of the currency. Whether Dogecoin has its place in this world - or will fare similarly to how it did after its 2018 peak - remains unclear. But, as the cryptocurrency community says, one thing remains unchanged: 1 DOGE will always equal 1 DOGE. Over its lifetime, the Dogecoin community has remained active and loyal. The simplicity of buying Dogecoin, the low transaction costs, and the relatively stable exchange rate should all help to ensure that it does not disappear from the cryptocurrency scene easily.