Dogecoin (DOGE), “an open-source, peer-to-peer digital currency,” may have started as a joke, but the cryptocurrency appears to have had the last laugh. With a market cap that exploded in early 2021, DOGE has ascended to become one of the biggest — and most infamous — cryptocurrencies. Dogecoin was a fork of LuckyCoin (LKY), which in turn was a fork of Litecoin (LTC), which was itself was forked from Bitcoin (BTC). The maiden Dogecoin block on its blockchain was mined in 2013.
In an attempt to build a fun, friendly alternative to Bitcoin, Dogecoin was co-founded by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, both of whom cashed out of the project in 2015 (though Markus has still accepted DOGE tips). The inspiration for Dogecoin was a 2010 internet meme of a Shiba Inu, a Japanese dog breed. The meme evolved into the project’s mascot, “Doge,” whose popularity has caught on like wildfire and who uses two-word catchphrases usually leading with a modifier such as “much wow.”With its explosive growth in 2021, Dogecoin’s value has grown to rival some traditional financial institutions. The popularity of the cryptocurrency and its associated price rally, as reflected in the below Dogecoin chart, has largely been fueled by the endorsement of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, whose bullish tweets have helped catapult Dogecoin to stardom, which has led to astronomical DOGE price gains. Access the Dogecoin live price here.
Mining and currency
Mining is one of the ways to get a hold of Dogecoin, though you can also buy, sell and trade it traditionally. Dogecoin is an auxiliary proof-of-work (AuxPoW) cryptocurrency with an unlimited supply, with 5 billion DOGE issued into circulation each year. Despite its unlimited supply, Dogecoin’s monetary emission is disinflationary in nature, considering that the yearly issuance will represent a decreasing percentage of the overall supply as time goes on.
Dogecoin miners have two options: They can either go it alone, which is recommended for megaoperations, or become part of what’s known as a mining pool in which multiple miners contribute their hashing power and therefore share in the block rewards.
In 2014, Dogecoin was merge-mined with Litecoin, allowing Litecoin mining pools to also mine DOGE at the same time. Like Litecoin, Dogecoin uses the Scrypt hashing function. Dogecoin’s algorithm is less tricky to mine than Bitcoin’s SHA-256; therefore, blocks are completed much more quickly. Dogecoin’s average block time is about one minute vs. Bitcoin’s 10 minute block time. The blockchain can see upward of 50,000 DOGE transactions completed per day.
Use cases
Dogecoin’s use cases are rivaled only by the imagination of the community. For example, it has been used to pay for tickets and merchandise for the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks. Not to be outdone, Major League Baseball team the Oakland A’s has also accepted Dogecoin as payment for tickets to its ballpark. In addition, DOGE has often been directed toward charitable donations, including to the Jamaica national bobsleigh team and also toward building wells in Kenya during a water crisis.
Trading
Owning a piece of the Dogecoin story has become all the rage, with high-profile celebrities ranging from Guy Fieri and Elon Musk to Mark Cuban and others all jumping on the DOGE bandwagon. While it is getting easier to buy Dogecoin now that its popularity has grown, the coin is still not as widespread as other top five coins such as Ether (ETH).
In May 2021, United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini added support for DOGE. Some of the other major crypto exchanges on which you can buy and sell DOGE include Binance, Kraken, Huobi Global, Bittrex, FTX and others.
To store your DOGE safely, you’ll need a wallet. DOGE is supported by the major hardware wallets, such as Trezor and Ledger. Dogecoin also offers a couple of wallets, including light wallet Multidoge and full node wallet Dogecoin Core. In addition to buying Dogecoin, other ways you can access the cryptocurrency are by mining it or getting tipped in it by engaging with the community. Very Doge!
Dogecoin Historical Price