Dogecoin is a meme-currency that is gaining a lot of popularity, especially after Elon Musk proclaimed himself a ‘Dogefather’ and announced that SpaceX would accept dogecoin for a satellite launch on the moon.
Where’d it all start? The Unusual Success Story of Dogecoin
In 2013, the Doge meme became popular among the netizens of the internet. Almost at the same time, bitcoins and cryptocurrencies were gaining a lot of attention. In the same year, Jackson Palmer, a software engineer, made a joke combining two of the internet’s most talked-about topics: cryptocurrency and Doge, and sent out this random tweet:
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Little did he realise that the crypto lovers will actually take it seriously. He decided to take the joke a step further and bought the domain Dogecoin.com and left a note on the site: If you want to make Dogecoin a reality, get in touch!
On the other side of the world, Billy Markus, another engineer working with IBM, saw the note on the site and got in touch with Palmer. Markus was already working on Bells, which he called a ‘cryptocurrency for the sillies’. Unlike Bitcoin, the rewards on mining Bells were completely random.
Both Palmer and Markus then collaborated to create DOGE, and the rest is history.
The Rise of Dogecoin’s Popularity
DOGE was first used by Reddiors as an alternative to upvoting a post. If a user posted something like, “Hey ‘Dogebot’ tip this Redditor seventeen Dogecoin,” then that Reddit user would automatically receive Dogecoins. Its popularity soared high after a tweet from the chairman of WallStreetBets.
Right after this tweet, the cryptocurrency and Shiba Inu lovers joined together to take Dogecoin to the moon, starting with Satoshi Street Bets (mysterious founder, or group of people, who ideated bitcoin) who urged people to ‘make Dogecoin a thing’. Instantly, the valuation of DOGE spiked up by 80%. In the next 24 hours, its total market cap stood at $8.2 billion, making it the ninth-largest cryptocurrency.
The Musk Effect
Celebrity endorsements from Elon Musk and others like Mark Cuban, rapper Lil Yachty also played a crucial part in Dogecoin’s rise to stardom. Though, there was a slight dip in the momentum after Musk called Dogecoin’s popularity a ‘hustle’. However, the slumber was short-lived since Musk’s SpaceX announcement again plummeted the valuation of this meme currency.
The Last Word
While all the hype and the tweets about Dogecoin seem interesting. The important question is — is it wise to invest in DOGE or not?
Many crypto experts believe Bitcoin is a much safer bet in the long term. There is an unlimited supply of Dogecoin; however, the availability of Bitcoins is capped at 21 million.
Also, the technology behind Bitcoin is much more robust (and secure). Dogecoin’s is largely built from tweaking an open-source code. DOGE’s advocates of say investing in the meme coin while the hype is still ripe can yield profits. Crypto’s story is still unfolding and DOGE’s future is yet to be seen.
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