What is Dogecoin? Everything to know about 'people's favourite' cryptocurrency

latest attention in world of cryptocurrencies has shifted to ‘Dogecoin’ that uses famous Shiba Inu dog for its logo and recently surpassed 10 cents in value for first time in history, marking a huge surge from its previous value of $0.0023 cents back in summer 2020. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, known for impacting global markets just by his brief tweets, dubbed Dogecoin " people's crypto". Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin are generated by computers with ir supposed values coming from a finite number that can be computed. Unjust this year, currency has risen more than 800% so far, as per BBC.

What is Dogecoin?

cryptocurrency, Dogecoin began as a meme and has now existed for nearly seven years. It was launched in 2013 owing to short-lived online craze for pictures of specific Japanese dog breed. Through December 2020, Dogecoin has been gaining its value but latest spike has triggered howls of "crypto-hype" from sceptics. Even though started as a joke by two software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, as per CNN cryptocurrency has witnessed a jump of 2000% in value since beginning of this year. 

“Dogecoin is an open-source peer-to-peer digital currency, favoured by Shiba Inus worldwide.” official website of Dogecoin describes cryptocurrency as “ fun and friendly internet currency”

Dogecoin or DOGE has no fundamental value nor is it tied to a particular asset or service. It has been described as a sentiment-driven asset. Even though a few companies do accept cryptocurrency, it is not widely accepted as a form of payment in real-life retail outlets. Even though Dogecoins are “mined” in same way as Bitcoins, y is no upper limit on number of Dogecoins, unlike Bitcoins. re are alrey 100 billion doge coins in existence.

From meme to cryptocurrency

In Dogecoin, ‘Doge’, as described by its creators is a’ “fun, friendly mascot.” After first emerging several years ago, iconic doge meme featuring ‘Shibe’ exploded on internet. An Australian marketer, Paler h even joked about combining two of internet’s most-famous topics which were doge and cryptocurrency. At time, Palmer h tweeted saying “pretty sure it’s next big thing.”

While Palmer’s tweet was acknowledged by several people on internet and started talking about ‘Dogecoin’, Australian marketer kept jock alive by buying Dogecoin.com and even uploed a photoshopped coin with image of Shibe. 

Billy Markus who was working as a software engineer at IBM at time noted message left by Palmer on official website and tried to get in touch with Australian national. However, since both of m failed to get in touch, Markus began working on Dogecoin. co-creator of cryptocurrency, Markus told Newsweek last month that he created it just a couple of hours and reportedly used Bitcoin’s open-source code.  Cut to now Dogecoin has climbed ranks to become one of top 10 most valuable cryptocurrencies in world.’

What is Dogecoin’s current value?

As per a Newsweek report, value of Dogecoin in circulation which is also referred to as coin’s market cap is currently $32.4 billion while ranking eighth on price tracking site Coinmarketcap's crypto list. Just a few days ago, as per reports, it was on number 10. After sudden overnight surge in cryptocurrency’s value, Markus even tweeted, “Just so you know, guys, this is unusual.” Basically, cryptocurrencies are broly considered as a volatile asset that is known for leaping spiking prices and dipping swiftly as well.’’

How did sudden rise take place?

unprecedented rise of Dogecoin in recent weeks has been attributed to high-profile support by people like Elon Musk and Kiss frontman Gene Simmons. Apart from that, cryptocurrency also has an active, devoted community on Twitter and Reddit which opens up potential for large-scale movements to boost price. Several observers have even compared Dogecoin to GameStop which is retail stock that a community on Reddit, WallStreetBets rallied from around $20 to a high of $480. However, Dogecoin still has a long way to go to match pioneers of cryptocurrencies as Bitcoin is currently worth over $60,000, and its market cap is $1.15 trillion.

Image credits: Dogecoin/Facebook