Dogecoin – definition and examples
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that started off as a joke. It features a Japanese fighting dog, i.e., a Shiba Inu, which is also its mascot.
It gained a significant international following and rapidly grew to have a market cap of $60 million by January 2014. The ‘joke currency‘ also has its own online community.
The mascot dog looks like the Shiba Inu dog from the ‘Doge‘ Internet meme. The dog is the cryptocurrency’s logo.
Its creator first released the cryptocurrency in December 2013. It had a fast initial coin production schedule. By the middle of 2015, one-hundred billion coins were in circulation. An additional 5.256 billion coins have gone into circulation each year since mid-2015.
People use the cryptocurrency mainly as an Internet tipping system. In other words, social media users grant Dogecoin tips to other users. Specifically, they grant them to other users for providing interesting content or material that is worth mentioning.
Dogecoin – brief history
Billy Markus
Billy Markus, an American programmer, created Dogecoin. He aimed to create a ‘fun cryptocurrency.’ Specifically, he hoped his cryptocurrency could reach a wider demographic than the world’s most common cryptocurrency, i.e., Bitcoin.
He also wanted to distance the cryptocurrency from the other coins’ controversial history.
Jackson Palmer
Meanwhile, a student from Front Range Community College encouraged Jackson Palmer via Twitter to make the idea a reality. Palmer worked in Adobe System’s Marketing Department in Australia.
Palmer eventually bought the dogecoin.com domain and added a splash screen. The screen featured the dog logo and scattered Comic Sans text.
Based on Luckycoin
After reaching out to Palmer, Markus began working on the creation of the new currency. He based the new cryptocurrency on Luckycoin.
Luckycoin features a randomized reward that cryptocurrency miners receive after successfully mining a block. A block is a record that forms part of the blockchain.
Cryptocurrency mining refers to the validation of cryptocurrency transactions. Miners add transactions to the blockchain. The process releases new currency. When a miner has completed a process, it receives a reward in the form of new cryptocurrency coins.
In 2014, however, Markus changed the system to a static block reward.
A new cryptocurrency emerges
On 6th Decembers 2013, Dogecoin was officially launched. The creator had originally intended to produce one-hundred million coins. However, he later decided that the network would produce infinite coins.
In just 72 hours, the coin’s value increased by nearly 300% in December 2013. The value of one coin jumped from $0.00026 to $0.00095.
The dramatic increase was probably due to China’s decision to forbid its banks from investing in Bitcoins.
However, three days later, Dogecoin plummeted by eighty percent.
A major theft
In 2013, on Christmas Day, Dogecoin experienced its first major theft. A hack on Dogewallet, i.e., the online cryptocurrency wallet platform, stole millions of coins.
The Dogecoin community subsequently donated coins to people who had lost funds on Dogewallet following its breach. People called the movement ‘SaveDogemas.’
Within a month, the movement replaced all the money that had disappeared.
For a brief period, in January 2014, Dogecoin trading briefly exceeded that of Bitcoin and all the altcoins combined. Altcoins, which stands for alternative coins, are all the cryptocurrencies in circulation except Bitcoin.
By the end of January 2018, Dogecoin’s market cap reached two billion dollars.
Video – What is Dogecoin
This Quantum Designs HD video explains what the ‘fun cryptocurrency’ or ‘joke currency’ is. According to the speaker, it took the Internet by storm.