Heard About Dogecoin? Here Are Some Facts You Need to Know
Considered a joke currency at first, Dogecoin has a lot of potential. Created as homage to the Shiba Inu dog breed from 'Doge,' its creators' popular internet meme. You could buy a single Dogecoin for less than 1 cent but that was before the great Doge-craze of 2021 started.
Dogecoin has recently become more popular, with the price rising to 40 cents per token. In recent months, Dogecoin has been growing in value. It's been a similar story to that of Bitcoin's rise from being a joke cryptocurrency into being worth thousands of dollars per coin. While it might seem dodgy at first glance, there is some genuine potential for this coin if the trend continues especially now that even those who are new to crypto are joining the craze..
Quick Introduction to Dogecoin
This currency was created in 2013 by Billy Markus, a software engineer from IBM and Jackson Palmer, a software engineer from Adobe. It was no surprise that it was created as a joke to send up the popularity of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
This cryptocurrency became popular when they raised 67.8 million Dogecoins in 2014 to sponsor a NASCAR ride. Josh Wise, the race driver who has had viral hits with his past social media posts on Dogecoin and Tetris, drove his Dogecoin-wrapped car during the Talladega Superspeedway's Aaron's 499. The meme coin got some attention, with the car design being shown on many major news outlets. Wise has finished 12th in that race and the “DogeCar” even made a downloadable content (DLC) appearance in the NASCAR 14 video game.
The Rise of the Doge
After over six years of stagnant growth, Dogecoin's value suddenly skyrocketed in 2021. Now the question is, what triggered its popularity? Redditors, especially those who subscribe to the Wallstreetbets subreddit, are often blamed for this. At the same time as GME, AMC, and NOK were skyrocketing, a smaller trend emerged for buying this meme coin. This trend was then supported by prominent people like Mark Cuban and Elon Musk and it’s their attention that caused Doge’s price and popularity to soar.
On February 4, 2021 Musk tweeted:
"Dogecoin is the people’s crypto."
And the rest is history. Investors of Dogecoin are excited about their aim to get the Dogecoin price over $1. This momentum has to be maintained so as not to lose its impact. Individuals who invested at the start would now see a return of over 1000%.
While the DogeCoin & Bitcoin party on April 20, 2021 did push the price of coins up to their highs for a short time, it's only for a short amount of time. When prices came down, it settled in the mid to high 20-cent range within 48 hours.
Bitcoin vs Dogecoin
Dogecoin and Bitcoin are similar in the sense that they were both created by computer programmers as a way to sill online transactions through branching away from more traditional, bank payment networks. Doge is a form of cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. Although there are some limitations, Dogecoin is gradually being accepted by more websites. You can purchase a limited number of items around the internet with it. For example, Dallas Mavericks merchandise can be purchased using Doge thanks to team owner Mark Cuban.
There are many differences between Dogecoin and Bitcoin, but one of the most major ones is that certain Dogecoin transactions are more expensive than their Bitcoin counterparts. In addition, there’s only 21 million Bitcoins and once all of them are mined, there can no longer be any future Bitcoins. Dogecoin doesn't have a limit to the coins that can be mined and some critics argue that supply will always outnumber demand, which will inevitably keep the coins' value low. Lastly, it’s also easy to mine Dogecoin.
So Is Investing in Dogecoin a Good Idea?
We’d like to reiterate a disclaimer before we proceed. We cannot provide any kind of investment advice and this is not an offer. In order to be an informed investor, you need to do your own research or get advice from someone who knows what they're doing. Investing is hard work and it's not always straightforward. Sometimes you can make a bigger return, but it's also easy to lose money.
Concerning Dogecoin, The prices rise and fall dramatically. It can be a lot to handle, especially if you have serious money tied up. Dogecoin may have even more value in the future, but also has other possibilities. Prices will fluctuate over time so there are pros and cons to take into consideration.
Investing in Dogecoin can be great but don’t risk the money you might not be able to afford to lose. The number of dogecoins in circulation is constantly increasing. It's challenging to fully identify it’s worth as it changes so frequently.
Where Can I Buy Dogecoin?
The first step is to set up your cryptocurrency wallet. Once you have obtained some DOGE, you can trade them on various exchanges. Among the most popular ones are the following:
- Bittrex
- Coinbase
- Binance
All of these platforms are user-friendly, even if that means that they lack more advanced features found in desktop clients or more complicated sites that ask for document verification before allowing users to trade. Some people must first buy Bitcoin, Litecoin, or Ethereum if they want to use their US Dollars to purchase Dogecoin. When you have enough coins, you can trade them for Dogecoin.
