A Deeper Look at Crypto's 'Underdog': Dogecoin Explained

History and About

The coin know by the name of DOGE commenced its life as a humorous concept rather than a serious project. It was developed in Oregon by Billy Markus as an amusing cryptocurrency which got its name from a meme of the famous Shiba Inu dog, referred to across the internet as 'doge.'

Known by the ticker DOGE, this digital coin began its life as a joke. Developed by Billy Markus in Oregon, this coin was designed to be just a fun currency and was named after the doge meme of Shiba Inu. However, Markus had no idea that this fun currency of his would achieve a permanent status in the crypto world. It was founded as far back as December 2013 but was able to gain traction in the markets and make around $60 million worth of capitalization back in 2014.

Beyond the original team, Dogecoin has a large team of developers working behind it as well such as Jackson Palmer who is based in Sydney and has contributed significantly to the development of the coin. It was him who purchased the domain name for dogecoin.

How Does it Work?

Dogecoin is akin to Bitcoin in the way its technology functions in the sense that it is a digitally stored and works on the basis of P2P and decentralization to allow people to send money with minimal hassle and maximum simplicity. The coin stands out from the Cryptocurrencies due to its viral nature, it is not supposed to be taken seriously but is instead supposed to evoke positive emotions in users. Because of this unique aspect, the coin has built up a large online community with extremely loyal support.

Dogecoin stands out from Bitcoin in the sense that it uses the Scrypt algorithm rather than the more common SHA-256 one. The mining process is similar to other cryptocurrencies however in the sense that miners are rewarded in the currency for mining blocks of the coins, but apart from the different system, there are many similarities. This difference is also what differentiates the Dogecoin from the BTC on the level of the algorithm, here in the sense the codes of the two currencies.

In terms of transaction fees, Dogecoin has one of the lowest fees available on the market, which makes it stand out from its potential competitors. The charges for certain transactions can be as low as $0.01, which is clearly something that would appeal to customers. One of the major drawbacks of many cryptos is the high fees and lengthy processing times, but Dogecoin aims to tackle both of these together.

Dogecoin as an Investment

Dogecoin is in the top 40 when it comes to cryptocurrencies worldwide, and it has a market cap of around $283,100,035, making it a major player in the crypto world, though not one of the leading cryptocurrencies. Its 24-hour trading volume at the time of writing was at $3,514,800. The value of the coin has fallen in recent years, and it had seen a decrease in popularity of substantial measures in the last few years much like most other cryptocurrencies due to the crashes and clampdowns in regulations.

With that said, the coin has maintained a level of relevance and is available on numerous exchanges such as Poloniex, Bittrex, and HitBTC. Dogecoin strengthens its legitimacy by having its own native crypto wallet available to enhance the usage of the currency.

In addition to this, however, the currency can be stored across a large number of online wallets as well as offline wallets. It would be useful to have a small amount of currency online for purchases, but the vast majority of your funds should be stored offline to avoid the risk of being hacked and having your currency stolen. Ledger and Jaxx are just two of the major wallets that are built for the storage of the Dogecoin.

Ultimately, the adoption rates of cryptocurrencies can continue to rise. As such, if the rise in the usage of Bitcoin were to slow down, then there is a lot of potential for another cryptocurrency to fill this void. This other currency could easily be Dogecoin given for how long it's been around. While the currency may have started as a joke, it is very far from that at this moment in time.