doge , bitcoin , cryptocurrency , alternative , altcoin , money About
Dogecoin is an alternative cryptocurrency (altcoin) that uses the iconic Shibu Inu dog from the Doge meme as a mascot. Similar to Bitcoin and its derivatives, Dogecoin can be mined and exchanged for goods and services among the participants, though it is programmed to level out at a higher threshold of up to 100 billion coins and prevent any use of special bitcoin-mining equipment like ASICs. In comparison, Bitcoin will cap out at 21 million coins and Litecoin will support up to 84 million coins in circulation. Origin
On November 27th, 2013, marketing professional Jackson Palmer posted a tweet that he would be “investing in Dogecoin.”
Investing in Dogecoin, pretty sure it’s the next big thing.
http://t.co/yHR4bNv6OD — Jackson Palmer (@jacksonpalmer) November 28, 2013
In an interview with the tech news blog Motherboard, [4] Markus revealed that he wished to create a cryptocurrency that can reach a broader demographic than Bitcoin, which had previously come under accusations of funding illegal online activities like the Silk Road drug marketplace.
After Palmer reached out to Markus on Twitter, the pair launched the official Dogecoin website along with the new cryptocurrency on December 6th, 2013. Spread
Following the launch of the official website, [13] a slew of social media channels and referential webpages soon emerged for Dogecoin, including a Twitter [10] account and a Facebook [9] page, racking up more than 36,000 followers and 13,000 likes within the the first two months respectively.
On December 8th, an entire subreddit community dedicated to the use of satirical cryptocurrency was launched at /r/dogecoin. [8] .
Throughout the first weekend of December, Dogecoin was highlighted by a number of tech news sites and blogs, providing a further boost to the value of the satirical currency. By December 14th, an encyclopedic article describing the concept of “Dogecoin” had been submitted by Wikipedia [15] editor CitationNeeded. On December 17th, the DogeCoin YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “You Can be a Dogecoin Millionaire!”, featuring a sketch about the iconic Doge Shibu Inu dog Kabuso becoming a millionaire (shown below).
On December 19th, Dogecoin increased from $0.
00026 to $0.002 in value, becoming the 7th-largest altcoin.
Three days later, the currency crashed to $0.0003 after being heavily mined. [5] 2013 Christmas Dogewallet Heist
On December 25th, 2013, several members of Dogecoin forum [16] began reporting that their funds were being transferred to an unknown account identified as “DQT9WcqmUyyccrxQvSrjcFCqRxt8eVBLx8.” Later that same day, the founders of the Dogecoin storage system Dogewallet, temporarily shut down the service and issued a statement [17] confirming that a hacker had gained access to its file system and modified its pages to reroute the coin transfer to a static account, which have resulted in losses of 30 million Dogecoins, or up to $12,000 worth of the crypto-currency at the time of the incident. In addition, the Dogewallet administrators announced that it will immediately begin reimbursing all users affected by the hack. As a result of the hack, Dogecoin became the most mentioned altcoin on Twitter.
Growth in Transaction Volume
On January 14th, 2014, Redditor innominatargh pointed out that more Dogecoins were traded within one hour than there were total Dogecoins in circulation in a post submitted to the /r/dogecoin [6] subreddit. That day, the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch [7] blog posted a chart illustrating how Dogecoin transactions had eclipsed the volume of Bitcoin and other altcoins combined in the previous month (shown below). Dogecoin Hype Video Competition
Between January and February 2014, the Dogecoin Foundation hosted a open submission contest for people to create a promotional video for the cryptocurrency. A total of 80 video entries [18] were submitted and nine prizes were given out from a pool of over 800,000 dogecoin. The grand prize went to Redditor zimonitrome’s chiptune-inspired promo music video “Ð is for Ðogecoin.” (shown below) Notable Examples SaveDogemas Fundraiser
Following the Dogewallet hack, a goodwill fundraiser campaign dubbed “SaveDogemas” was launched to help donate coins to those who lost them.
Within the next month, it raised enough Dogecoin to cover all the losses. Jamaican Bobsled Team Fundraiser
On January 19th, 2014, an Indiegogo [2] page was created by members of the Jamaican Bobsled Team to fund their trip to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
On the same day, a fundraiser was launched by the Dogecoin Foundation [4] for the bobsled team, which gathered $35,000 in donations in the first 24 hours. [11] During this time, Dogecoin to Bitcoin exchange rate rose by 50%. Indian Olympic Athlete Fundraiser
On January 29th, days before the opening of Sochi Winter Olympics, Washington Post [19] reported on the uphill battles faced by three Indian athletes participating in the Games, such as having to compete without a national flag, due to International Olympic Committee sanctions stemming from a corruption scandal, and as a result, lack of enthusiastic support from the Indian Olympic Committee, including the costs of their trips. India’s sports ministry agreed to help the athletes defray the costs of competing at Sochi. Keshavan received sufficient funds, but it has been unclear whether the other two competitors can afford to make the trip. Roshan Lal Thakur, secretary general of the Winter Games Federation of India, said he has finally received three-quarters of the$22,000 needed to send the alpine skier Himanshu Thakur and cross-country skier Nadeem Iqbal and their coaches to the Games. Still, he doesn’t know where he will get the rest. “Maybe I have to borrow from friends,” he said.
“Some miracle will happen, no?”
On the following day, Reddit’s /r/dogecoin subreddit and the Dogecoin Foundation launched a Sochi fundraiser [20] for Indian skiers Himanshu Thakur and Nadeem Iqbal, raising more than $6,000 within just three hours, including one donor who contributed three million Dogecoin, worth about $4,500 at the time of the donation. Doge4Water in Kenya Fundraiser
In March 2014, the Dogecoin Foundation [21] announced a new month-long initiative to collect 40 million dogecoin to fund the creation of two water wells in a town in eastern Kenya.
Dubbed “Doge 4 Water,” the charity drive will continue until “World Water Day” on March 22nd, when donations will be converted to dollars for transfer. NASCAR Sponsorship
On March 17th, 2014, Redditor unicorn_butt_sex submitted a post calling for a Dogecoin sponsorship of NASCARdriver Josh Wise to the /r/dogecoin [29] subreddit.
In 10 days, the post gained more than 760 up votes and 390 comments.
Later that day, Wise found out about the sponsorship campaign and posted a tweet [30] thanking the Dogecoin community for their support. The Reddit post was subsequently updated with 3D-rendered mockups of a sponsored race car featuring the Dogecoin symbol on the front hood and “wow such racecar”.