Popularly known as the “original meme coin,” Dogecoin DOGE has always managed to be in the news, sometimes owing to its sudden jump or sudden downfall and other times for being an interest of Elon Musk. But do you really know what Dogecoin is? If no, or you have a rough idea about it, let’s discover everything about this cryptocurrency together.
Dogecoin is a peer-to-peer, open source cryptocurrency that’s similar to an altcoin of Bitcoin. With Dogecoin DOGE, users get an unknown, decentralized, and safe environment that doesn’t have the involvement of any third-party in terms of transactions.
How did Dogecoin begin?
On December 6, 2013, Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer introduced Dogecoin DOGE. It all began like a joke for popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and was influenced by the famous Doge meme that had Shiba Inu’s picture.
Luckily, the joke turned into some serious business when the value of Dogecoin DOGEincreased unexpectedly.
The fame of Dogecoin DOGE
Dogecoin DOGE was a hype in 2013 among those who were interested in cryptocurrencies. Moreover, internet forums such as Reddit and Dogecoin began giving Dogecoins DOGE as rewards to their content creators.
A constant supporter of Dogecoin, Elon Musk is one of the key reasons behind the price movements of DOGE. Here are a few examples:
Elon Musk’s tweet that read “Doge barking at the moon” resulted in the value of Dogecoin DOGE jumping over 600%. One more tweet by him on July 18, 2020, pushed the coin towards more success.
Then there were more tweets related to a faux “Doge” magazine cover, which increased the price of the meme coin.
In 2021, once again, Musk showed his support for the coin through a tweet that helped Dogecoin hit records.
DOGE soared 55% and set a new all-time high when Snoop Dogg joined Elon Musk and Gene Simmons to share a tweet of a Shibu Inu meme.
This constant support from influential names is the reason behind DOGE’s fame.
How Dogecoin works?
Dogecoin DOGE runs on blockchain technology. Dogecoin network users have a digital wallet that has both a public key and a private key.
- A user can ask for a transaction with another user by knowing both their wallet ID as well as public key.
- When a transaction request is made, all the Dogecoin DOGE miners are notified through the application to move forward with the process.
- Miners check whether the sender has sufficient Dogecoins for the payment. The transaction request is approved after the verification.
- Miners compete on an international level to acquire the pending transaction data, which is referred to as the nonce.
- The miners use a mathematical function for the creation of the correct hash number for the pending transaction’s nonce.
- The miner who creates the correct hash number is rewarded Dogecoins.
- Both users receive a confirmation message that their transaction request is approved.
- In just a few minutes, the requested Dogecoin DOGE amount is sent to the wallet of the receiver, and the transaction is complete.
Where are Dogecoins sourced from?
Decentralized network of computers that’s behind operating the currency mine Dogecoin DOGE. These networked computers work on complicated mathematical calculations to unlock coins or their fractions as a reward for processing transactions.
Over 132.7 billion Dogecoin were there until September 2022, and new coins are produced every single minute.
There’s no cap on the number of Dogecoins that are possible to be mined. Therefore, it is possible to create unlimited coins, but new coins’ yearly issuance is restricted to 5 billion, and the issuance can proceed forever.
Dogecoin DOGE year-by-year
Let’s have a glimpse at major activities related to Dogecoin over the years.
Dec 2013: Dogecoin was introduced.
March 2014: The community generated DOGE worth $55,000 to sponsor Josh Wise, the NASCAR driver.
June 2014: The Dogecoin Foundation was launched to preside over the code of the currency.
April 2015: Jackson Palmer left Dogecoin and called the ecosystem toxic.
January 2018: Dogecoin reached a market cap of $2 billion.
July 2020: Dogecoin’s volumes increased owing to a viral TikTok challenge, taking up the price by 96%, but the jump was short-lived.
January 2021: DOGE increased to a $9 billion market cap in a price surge organized by the SatoshiStreetBets subreddit.
May 2021: The appearance of Elon Musk in Saturday Night Live increased the price of DOGE to an all-time high of $0.73.
May 2021: Developers at Dogecoin disclosed being advised by Elon Musk since 2019.
June 2021: Coinbase listed Dogecoin.
January 2022: Dogecoin was among the top 12 cryptos in terms of market capitalization.
October 2022: Dogecoin prices doubled after Elon Musk after Elon Musk acquired Twitter.
November 2022: Dogecoin prices increased by over 25% when Musk shared a Halloween photo of his dog.
Use case of Dogecoin
- Prodigy, MonsterMeg, Casino, FlokiNET and Playhub are some of the top firms that use Dogecoin DOGE.
- Dogecoin DOGE can work as a medium to transfer money between individuals, be it sending cash or paying for products or services.
- Transactions can be made semi-anonymously no matter even if a record is public on the blockchain. Also, this could be done without involving any intermediary like a bank.
- DOGE can be used to tip creators on forums like Reddit and social media channels.
Pros & cons of DOGE
| Pros | Cons |
| Quick confirmation for completed transactions | Dogecoin’s mining doesn’t add profit since it has a low value and deals with a number of coins. |
| The Dogecoin network is blessed with a loyal and friendly community of followers as well as creators | The options to buy DOGE are limited. |
| The coin is getting increased acceptance among service providers and merchants. | There’s limited functionality such as no smart contracts. |
| The low value of DOGE helps social media platforms to pay their content creators, and it can be used like a gaming currency too. | The potential of Dogecoin is limited in terms of investments owing to it being an inflationary currency. |
| Dogecoin’s transaction fee is very small. | In comparison to other crypto, it is less safe. |
What makes Dogecoin unique?
A number of factors make DOGE special in its own way. Check out some factors in the points below:
Speed and fee
Transactions are fast, and the transaction fee is low, which increases its chances of adoption.
Community
The community of Dogecoin is its heart. Members of the r/dogecoin subreddit are popular for their warm and friendly conduct.
Philanthropy
Dogecoin’s community is involved in good deeds too. $25,000 plus in Dogecoin were raised to support the Jamaican bobsled team at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The community also joined a water charity to improve access to clean water in Kenya via the Doge 4 Water initiative.
Bottomline
As there’s no limit on the number of Dogecoins that can be created, and they are created every day, buying or holding the DOGE in terms of a long-term investment might not be very rewarding. Also, each day, there’s some new market that’s launched in the market, which increases the pressure on Dogecoin.
Though the coin has performed great time and again, it has never been a consistent performer for years. Considering that, it could be said that those who are fond of taking risks and are experts at predicting the market can try their luck with Dogecoin.
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