The meme currency has grown by more than 130 times this year
In 2010, Atsuko Sato, a Japanese kindergarten teacher posted some pictures of her Shiba Inu dog Kabosu online. By October of the same year, someone on Reddit
captioned one of the photos with “LMBO LOOK @ THIS FUKKEN DOGE.”
The rest was history. The popularity of the ‘DOGE’ rose to dizzying heights. It became a meme, then spawned franchises like t-shirts and mugs, it then became an easter egg on YouTube, appeared in music videos and even appeared on NASCAR racer Josh Wise’s car. So, is it really a surprise that Doge eventually became a currency?
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What is Dogecoin?
In 2013, Jackson Palmer, then an employee at Adobe, made a satirical tweet (unfortunately lost to the void) about investing in ‘Dogecoin’, his joke cryptocurrency, he did not actually think people would do it. Jackson Palmer had tied up with Billy Markus, an IBM developer, to create the cryptocurrency.
What started as a ‘joke’ became a phenomenon in the digital cryptocurrency space. By 2014, it became the fifth largest cryptocurrency in the world and it even spawned convention for its fans in San Francisco creatively titled “Dogecon.”
It is not all just jokes and pun though, in 2014, it was used as a means to encourage fundraising for athletes who had qualified but could not afford to go to the Sochi Winter Olympics. It was even used as an impetus to build a well in Tana river basin in Kenya.
By mid-2015, the 100 billionth Dogecoin had been mined with an additional 5 billion coins put into circulation every year thereafter.
Why is it trending now?
You may have heard of another popular meme that is going around these days, GameStonk. The good folks over at WallStreetBets on reddit who were spearheading a war between investors and hedge funds, took an interest in Dogecoin too. Like the aggressive trading that drove GameStop’s valuation up in the stock market, Dogecoin saw itself increase its valuation by over 900% in 24 hours.
This was bolstered by support from notable celebrities like Elon Musk, Snoop Dog and Gene Simmons.
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How much is the Dogecoin worth now?
The current market valuation of Dogecoin at the time of this writing is Rs. 36.27 (CoinMarketCap). Compared to Bitcoin which is currently valued at Rs. 42,00,723 and Ethereum which sits at Rs. 3,18,089, Dogecoin still has a long way to go if it wants to be in the top three.
Can I buy it in India?
Yup. Dogecoin can be purchased through any cryptocurrency wallet or online platform. These platforms require a KYC process which will be used to verify your details.
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