Coin Spotlight: Dogecoin - The Original Meme Coin [#5]
As an early crypto enthusiast, Dogecoin has always held a special place in my heart. Dogecoin was the second altcoin I had ever owned, after Litecoin. Even today, I still use it because it is widely supported and features fast 1 minute block confirmation times. Dogecoin was a top 20 coin for a pretty long time, but has started to fall back a bit recently. It still has a vibrant community behind it and certainly deserves a place in Coin Spotlight.
Brief History and Overview
Dogecoin was created back in 2013 by Billy Marcus, who wanted to make a fun cryptocurrency that could reach a greater audience then Bitcoin. He was later joined by Jackson Palmer, who created the first Dogecoin website at dogecoin.com after being challenged on Twitter. Marcus saw the website and reached out to Palmer, which marks the start of Dogecoin's development. The Dogecoin community is also known for popularizing the frequently heard term 'To the moon' and actually trying to achieve that goal.
Dogecoin website in 2013 
One of Dogecoin's biggest features is the fact that it doesn't have a maximum coin supply, meaning that an infinite number of Doge can be created. Dogecoin was originally based on the now defunct Luckycoin, which in turn is based on Litecoin. This mean that Dogecoin, just as Litecoin, makes use of the scrypt mining algorithm, which is more ASIC resistant than SHA-256.
Confirmation times are ten times faster compared to those of Bitcoin, as Dogecoin features 1 minute block times. The current block reward for mining Doge, sits at 10.000 doge, worth roughly 35 US Dollars.
One lesser known fact may be that the Dogecoin community has also created a non-profit organization. The Dogecoin Foundation is meant to facilitate the use of Dogecoin for charitable endeavors.
The community surrounding Dogecoin is still as active as ever. The Dogecoin subreddit is full of people who are passionate about the future of this coin. They regularly give out tips to anyone who participates and have organized successful charity fundraisers in the past. On the Dogecoin subreddit, you'll also find an announcement for Dogecon 2018, a Dogecoin conference in Vancouver Canada.
Development
There have been some rumors that the main developer had left Dogecoin development, but these are simply not true. The entire development team is still working on Dogecoin and new releases come out every couple of months. They are now working towards releasing Dogecoin Core 1.14, which has already seen 3 alpha releases.
Any questions you might have regarding Dogecoin development can easily be asked on the Dogecoindev subreddit, which is fairly active.
Community Fundraising
The Dogecoin community held a fundraiser to send the Jamaican bobsled team to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. They ultimately succeeded in raising $36.000 to pay for the expenses of the Jamaican bobsled team, enabling them to compete at the Winter Olympics.
Their second large fundraiser had the goal of raising money to build a well in Kenya, to secure access to clean drinking water for the local population. The dogecoin Foundation worked with Charity: Water to raise a total of $30 000 to fund this endeavor.
One of the weirdest, but most epic fundraisers happened in 2014, when the Dogecoin Reddit community set out to sponsor Nascar driver Josh Wise, to drive in a Dogecoin/reddit sponsored car. They succeeded in raising $55 000 and the whole event was widely publicized, resulting in a lot of attention for Dogecoin.
Controversy
Because of the community's willingness to donate towards charitable goals, they often fell victim to scammers trying to cheat their way into receiving funds. When they tried to raise funds to send Indian athlete Shiva Keshavan to the Winter Olympics, it was found out that the head of the Winter Games Federation of India tried to use this money for his own son (who was also an Olympic athlete), instead of giving it to the intended recipient, Shiva Keshavan. after this was uncovered, the money was returned to the donors.
Another shady figure from the Doge community was a supposed Singaporean daytrader, who went by the pseudonym Wolong. He had set up an elaborate pump&dump scheme through a paid-access IRC server and highhandedly caused major price-shifts on the Doge market. He's also known for having created the now dead Pandacoin.
Then there's the hacking incident in 2013, where millions of coins were stolen from Dogewallet. After that event, the community came together to help replace all the stolen funds through donations, this initiative was called SaveDogemas.
Doge's Market Performance
Ever since Dogecoin was created, it has continued to surprise traders with sudden, unexpected gains. It's remarkable that this coin with no maximum supply, continues to supply investors with profit. Up until early 2016 it has remained among the 10 most capitalized coins on Coinmarketcap. Since then it has started to drop to its current spot as 45th most capitalized coin.
The very low cost of purchasing Dogecoin makes this an interesting investment, especially when you're on a budget. It's certainly possible to make a profit trading Dogecoin, it has a decent amount of volume on most exchanges.
Dogecoin on Coinmarketcap in 2016
Personal Opinion of Dogecoin
I've been following Dogecoin development for a very long time, so let me start by saying that I'm very biased. That said, I do think that Dogecoin still has a bright future ahead. As long as the community keeps this coin alive, it will be of use to many people. Dogecoin is still the 7th most active blockchain out there, so it's very clear that Doge is very much alive still.
Maybe the crypto community needs a coin like Dogecoin, just as a way to make fun of ourselves. I've always seen Doge's over the top and fun character, as a form of self-deprecating humor. Just the idea that a coin that's based on a meme can have value, is pretty funny when you think about it.
Cryptocurrency has been turned into serious business for a lot of people, let's not forget to also have some fun once in a while!
Sources
A History of Dogecoin by Usman Chohan, University of New South Wales (UNSW)
First Photos of the Dogecoin NASCAR car by The Verge
The Dark Days of Dogecoin: How Scammers and Bandits Brought Down Crypto's Friendliest Currency
Official Dogecoin Website
Dogecoin Foundation Website
CoinMarketCap Statistics on 09/06/2018
| Price (USD) | MarketCap | Volume (24h) | Circulating Supply | Max Supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0.003661 | $420,289,313 | $5,429,700 | 114,796,448,407 DOGE | Infinite |
Source: Dogecoin on CoinMarketCap
Coin Spotlight Overview
1| Coin Spotlight: Manna - Basic Income Cryptocurrency
2| Coin Spotlight: EOS - Decentralized Application Platform
3| Coin Spotlight: Litecoin - Open Source Decentralized P2P Currency
4| Coin Spotlight: Ripple & XRP - Open Payment Network and Digital Currency
What do you think about Dogecoin? Have you ever used it? Share your opinion in the comments below!
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I made the mistake of buying some doge in my early investing career when it was at its absolute top price, so I'm now waiting for one of those surprise spike so I can dump it.
I'm around 77% down! It wasn't a lot though, around 3500 coins.
Luckily it wasn't a lot, I'm sure it will rise too once Bitcoin goes up again.
I am still trying to get into the trading thing. I will be travelling to my hometown real soon so I can meet with some friends who are traders, it is time I diversify my portfolio so to speak.
Dogecoin seem like a very good prospect. Thanks for this info @daan
I also have a small amount of DOGE, and I still find it weird that something that was founded as a bit of a joke still keeps value! But it is good that it has found a niche as a tipping and charitable community. It is good that not everyone in crypto is obsessed about making a quick buck....
I still remember it all.....To the moon! Send the Jamaican team to the winter olympics and no one would forget the Doge car. Reddit days it was fun I even remember joining some art contests which got me a couple of hundred coins. Back then I had around 50k coins which I got thru tips and mining, converted it to gnt but still have a couple left.
I traded dogecoin in the past. I've seen in my own experience how fast transactions are and the community around it is amazing. I actually converted SBD to doge to send them on poloniex. The Steem and SBD wallet is under mainenance for a while on that exchange.
Dogecoin is one crypto that in my opinion will survive for many years in the crypto market. Although it doesn't have a maximum supply the price can increase over time because there are a lot of hodlers and also lost wallets of dogecoin. Not everybody take it too serious unfortunately...
Dogecoin...what a great story. Love the community.
I was always kind of interested in Dogecoin, but I was never able to find an easy way to acquire any of it. They really need to work on some form of universal wallet. I know it probably wouldn't be ideal, but it would be a lot easier. Glad to see that yo are a Litecoin believer!
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