What is Dogecoin and How Can I Make Money from It?

dogecoin
Source: Ciphernet

With the recent news of meme-driven stock frenzies like Game Stop, another one has risen from the grips of internet culture in the form of Dogecoin, the newest trending cryptocurrency.

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that literally started as a joke in 2013. It is a satirical homage to bitcoin, designed to serve no real purpose other than generating a few laughs. What started out as a practical joke in 2013 between software developers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, is now the world’s 10th largest cryptocurrency as of date. 

It was initially named after an internet meme of a shiba inu dog and the then-popular bitcoin. Dogecoin was a marriage of these two sensations and started out as a form of satirical homage to bitcoin, with no real purpose other than to generate a few laughs from the internet folk.

Markus even makes to throw jabs at his own work, arguing: “The idea of dogecoin being worth 8 cents is the same as GameStop being worth $325. It doesn’t make sense. It’s super absurd. The coin design was absurd.”

Now, the stock price for Dogecoin is up by more than 1,600% this year alone, a chunk of its overnight growth being driven by celebrating cheerleading from the likes of Tesla’s founder Elon Musk, rapper Snoop Dogg, and Kiss singer Gene Simmons who all showed their verbal support from their social media accounts.

But financial experts advise trade enthusiasts to tone down the excitement, in fear of the already unstable stock market being even more unpredictable. Head of Research at dogecoin.com, Garrick Hileman, disclosed: “I do worry about all the attention paid to a cryptocurrency that historically has not seen real-world traction and is a bit of a joke—literally.”

Dogecoin creators, Markus and Palmer, coined their creation as the “fun and friendly internet currency”. They rode the hype about the proliferation of crypto coins at the times of its creation and paired it with an unlikely partner, a viral internet meme. Its humble beginnings were able to cultivate a community of traders who used their dogecoin coins to give each other small tips in online forums or band together to support social causes, such as using the money to sponsor a Jamaican two-man bobsled team in the Winter Olympics in 2014.

Where do I start trading dogecoin?

With all this information and history lesson about this viral cryptocurrency, how exactly can you use it to start earning some money? Dogecoin is relatively easy to secure and make money off of, as it’s supported by most trading platforms. There are also decentralized trading platforms that allow you to swap tokens. 

You can buy dogecoin with a credit card on cryptocurrency exchanges such as Bittrex Global GmbH and Payward Inc.’s Kraken, as well as other popular trading platforms like Robinhood Markets Inc.

deVere group recently released a statement announcing they were going to add dogecoin to their crypto-trading app because of the surge of demand after Elon Musk’s tweets, prompting the deVere CEO Nigel Green to call the phenomenon “The Elon Effect.”

What can I do with dogecoin?

Even with the popularity of cryptocurrency in recent years, there’s still a long way to go for it to completely replace traditional payment services. Most conventional online retailers don’t accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment just yet.

However, there are websites selling copper tokens for $12 a piece through dogecoin. These tokens are stamped with a “D” and have “2014” engraved. Bitrefill also lets dogecoin traders buy gift cards for several retail platforms such as Amazon and Apple through dogecoins.

If you are already familiar with the trading scene, exchanges that trade bitcoin also let you convert any existing cryptocurrency you have into traditional currencies.

Conclusion

Even after a near-decade has passed since the creation of dogecoin, it has remained a nostalgic memory for the crypto industry due to its humorous origin that evolved into something no one expected it would. The dogecoin community is now growing, with more traders looking into securing their own stocks to get ahead of the curve.

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