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What is Dogecoin (DOGE)?

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that many people see as a joke. Not surprisingly, because the founders of Dogecoin also once set up this crypto currency as a joke. However, the market capitalization (market cap) of this cryptocurrency has increased dramatically in recent years, making Dogecoin invariably one of the largest cryptocurrencies.

Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus decided to launch Dogecoin in 2013. They saw that Bitcoin was becoming more and more popular, and many people decided to create their own cryptocurrency (altcoins). Therefore, they wanted to take advantage of the hype by creating a crypto currency of their own. This crypto currency was to have a Shiba Inu as its logo. For this purpose, the picture of the well-known Shiba Inu meme was used. This is one of the reasons why Dogecoin is called a "memecoin" by many people.

Shortly after its creation, Dogecoin was not used seriously. Many people thought it was only 'funny' to own Dogecoin. Therefore, the value of the coin at that time represented almost nothing. As you can read further in this article, over time Dogecoin became increasingly used for serious purposes.

Dogecoin has its own blockchain, which uses Proof-of-Work (PoW). This means that the DOGE network is made up of miners. The blockchain was created from a fork of the Bitcoin blockchain.

What can you use Dogecoin for?

You can use Dogecoin for a variety of purposes. The crypto currency is set up as a means of payment. So you cannot use it within a specific protocol or decentralized application (dApp).

Today, you can use Dogecoin on platforms like Reddit and Twitter, to tip content creators. It is also possible to buy Dogecoin on a large number of crypto exchanges, including Coinmerce. Many crypto traders use Dogecoin to speculate on price changes. Because Dogecoin is a volatile cryptocurrency, the price can sometimes change significantly. As a result, it is possible to make large gains, as well as large losses, on an investment in DOGE.

In recent years, Dogecoin has been used several times to raise money for charity. When it turned out that the Jamaican bobsleigh team could not go to the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 due to lack of money, the Dogecoin community decided to set up a special action. With this action they wanted to raise money so that the bobsleigh team could still go to the Winter Olympics. And they succeeded, because about €50,000 worth of DOGE was raised.

In 2021, Elon Musk indicated that SpaceX would send the first Dogecoin-funded rocket to the moon in 2022. At the time this was announced, 129 million DOGE coins would be needed to fund the trip.

Dogecoin and Elon Musk

Say Dogecoin, and you say Elon Musk. As recently as 2021, Musk called himself the "Dogefather," and regularly shared his fondness for Dogecoin on Twitter. Despite the fact that these kinds of statements don't seem to be a problem at first, they have caused a lot of controversy. Every time Musk posted a Tweet about Dogecoin, the price of this crypto currency fluctuated greatly. The direction of the fluctuation depended on the content of the Tweet.

A large number of people could initially laugh at Musk's statements, although a growing group of people criticized Musk. He was said to be playing and manipulating the market, because he knew that his statements could cause significant changes in the stock price.

Dogecoin: the beginning of the memecoin run


Just as Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency and was followed by altcoins, Dogecoin was the first memecoin. A memecoin is a cryptocurrency inspired by a meme. In the case of Dogecoin, that meme is a famous picture of a Shiba Inu. Creators of memecoins can use inspiration in the image or the name of the coin.

After the creation of Dogecoin, more and more memecoins were created, of which the following are the most famous and notable:

  • Shiba Inu (SHIB);
  • Dogelon Mars (ELON);
  • Pitbull (PIT);
  • PolyDoge (POLYDOGE);
  • SafeMoon (SAFEMOON);
  • CumRocket (CUMMIES).
    •
    In many cases, people are warned about such memecoins. Their value can fluctuate tremendously, as it is primarily based on the hype surrounding the coin. One Tweet can easily cause the value to double or halve. So be aware of the risks before you decide to invest in memecoins.

    The DOGE token

    There is a total inventory of 132.67 billion DOGE tokens, the number of which continues to grow continuously. At all times, 100% of the total stock is in circulation. The value of DOGE, partly due to the large number of tokens, has never risen above €1. The all-time-high (ATH) of DOGE stands at €0.56, which was achieved in May 2021.

    Where to buy Dogecoin (DOGE)

    Want to buy Dogecoin? DOGE buy in the Netherlands or Belgium at Coinmerce. Here you can pay quickly and easily with iDEAL, SEPA, creditcard, Giropay and MyBank. Before you can buy DOGE at Coinmerce, you will need an account. Fortunately, you can create one easily and quickly by clicking here.

    In which crypto wallet can you store Dogecoin?

    Joke or not, you obviously want to keep Dogecoin as safe as possible. After you purchase DOGE from Coinmerce, your crypto coins will be moved directly and automatically to your Coinmerce wallet. This is where you can leave your DOGE coins, as Coinmerce stores most of the assets in cold storage. Of course, you can always send DOGE from your Coinmerce wallet to an external wallet. Thus, it is possible to store Dogecoin in your hardware wallet.

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