What is Dogecoin? DOGE is the “fun and friendly internet currency”. IBM software engineer Billy Markus and Adobe software engineer Jackson Palmer launched Dogecoin in 2013 as a parody of other cryptocurrencies in the market at the time. Dogecoin takes its name from the “Doge” meme, and the misspelling Shiba Inu continues to be its “fun, friendly mascot”. Doge is a derivative of the Luckycoin and uses a Scrypt algorithm. It started out with random block intervals, but over time these blockchain intervals stabilized to one-minute, making it faster than other blockchains. Though it had funny beginnings, it is no joke. Dogecoin’s value continues to climb up, becoming the fourth most valuable cryptocurrency at a market capitalization of $42 billion.
What makes Dogecoin so valuable?
At the start of the year, DOGE was traded at less than one cent. In the last month, its value shot up to 74 cents. Dogecoin continues to grow exponentially, both in value and popularity. Though experts and mainstream media find it difficult to take it seriously, the traction Dogecoin has is no joke.
Source: Coinbase
There are two big reasons why Dogecoin is so valuable. One, it does not have a supply cap. That means there is virtually an unlimited supply of DOGE, and anyone who is diligent enough to mine it can build a horde over time. To add to that, DOGE has a low price point, so anyone can easily invest and join in the DOGE community. However, the downside to not having a supply cap is that Dogecoin prices can inflate rather quickly.
Source: Pixabay
Two, it has a strong online presence. It is a peer-to-peer open source currency, and like any other cryptocurrency, anyone can invest. Its popularity skyrocketed recently with internet celebrities like Mark Cuban and Elon Musk joining in on the action. Elon Musk even talked about it in his Saturday Night Live stint. Though the inventors of Dogecoin do not work on the project anymore, its online community continues to push the Dogecoin agenda—talking about it in Reddit communities, editing Doge onto astronauts and Twinkies, and even sponsoring the Jamaican Bobsled Team and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Josh Wise in 2014.