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What is Dogecoin?

Published: 06:05 12 Jul 2021 EDT

Dogecoin: What is it and what do you need to know about the billion-dollar joke

Dogecoin (DOGE) - pronounced ‘dohj coin’ - might the most lucrative joke ever told.

It started as a parody around 8 years ago, is ranked among the top 10 digital coins by market value, according to the CoinMarketCap.

Like other popular cryptocurrencies - such as Bitcoin and Ethereum - Dogecoin runs on blockchain, the decentralised technology used as a secure digital ledger that keeps record of stores all transactions.

It was created in 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer as a joke and was meant to be a satirical alternative to the hype around Bitcoin, and, was named after the ‘doge’ meme – the one that features the Japanese dog breed, Shiba Inu, along with misspellings and odd grammar.

How does Doge differ?

The biggest difference between Dogecoin other cryptos is that it is easy to mine and doesn’t require very sophisticated equipment.

Another major difference is that Dogecoin subscribes to infinite issuance, unlike other cryptocurrencies, which will one day reach a capped circulation limit.

An original capping was pitched at 100bn issuances but was later scrapped.

Moreover, Dogecoin transactions attract a very low transaction commission. For instance, Dogecoin transaction commission or fee have not yet breach 1 cent level while the Bitcoin commission can go as high as US$10.

The lower transaction cost, easy to mine, infinite issuance and other factors makes Dogecoin one of the cheapest cryptocurrencies costing just about $0.20 currently, way cheaper than Bitcoin, currently trading at around US$ 33,000.

It means that the ‘joke’ crypto is especially liquid, boosting its appeal for day traders.

Dogecoin’s market capitalisation peaked at around US$85bn earlier this year, whereas the total value of all cryptocurrencies is estimated at around two trillion dollars.

Dogecoin fan club

Several influencers and celebrities are touting the new cryptocurrency through their social media posts, leading to a rise in the cryptos market value.

Some of the prominent celebrities who supported Dogecoin include Elon Musk, Snoop Dogg, Mark Cuban, Gene Simmons and Jake Paul.

Earlier this year, Musk has referred to Dogecoin as ‘the people’s crypto’ and one of his tweets, a meme of Dogue magazine - a play on the fashion title ‘Vogue’ led to a 9-fold rise in Dogecoin’s price.

Over the past few months, Musk has made several tweets about dogecoin and he has been joined by the likes of Snoop Dogg and Gene Simmons in posting tweets supporting Dogecoin.

How has it done in the past year?

Dogecoin’s journey for the past year has been a roller coaster ride.

The price was on an upward journey since the beginning of the year 2021.  Tweets from celebrities such as Elon Musk and Snoop Dogg generated considerable investor interest pushing the price to a record high of US$0.74 on May 8, 2021.

Since then, prices have declined more than 50% but occasionally there has been some upward movement in the price. Currently, the price is hovering around US$0.20.

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