Meme coins are a virtual currency type that draws inspiration from memes, which are humorous concepts recorded in pictures or videos. Some meme coins are created as a homage to certain memes. Dogecoin is one of the world's most popular meme coins.
Software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, the creators of Dogecoin, never intended Dogecoin to be used in any practical way. Ironically, meme coins exist to fit that exact description.
Meme coins have very little utility and lack technical innovation by design. Like the memes they draw inspiration from, the primary purpose of a meme coin is to go viral on the internet. This widespread virality is where they draw most of their value from. Since their popularity and success are based on their viral status on any given day, meme coins are highly volatile—even more so than mainstream cryptocurrencies like Ethereum (ETH), BNB, and Solana (SOL).
Besides their lack of utility and abundant circulating supply, meme coins function like any other cryptocurrency.
Dogecoin has links with several celebrities who have shown their support to endorse the meme coin. Elon Musk, Mark Cuban, and Snoop Dogg are just some celebrities who’ve had a tremendous influence on Dogecoin’s market performance.
Elon Musk’s Saturday Night Live monologue saw him make jokes about Dogecoin, which led to the cryptocurrency’s sudden increase in value. However, a short while after trending online, Dogecoin’s value fell just as quickly. This makes Dogecoin (and meme coins generally) a precarious investment.
Musk tweets about Dogecoin occasionally, leading to its rise and fall depending on Musk’s opinion at the time. His automotive company, Tesla, also accepts Dogecoin as a form of payment.
As a meme coin, Dogecoin is only intended for trading and isn't built to be used as a utility token. Dogecoin is prone to abrupt fluctuations in value as the prevailing hype around it determines its price. This also depends on the actions and words of celebrities and social media influencers. As a result, Dogecoin's value is often relatively low.
However, this isn’t specific to Dogecoin. Most meme coins aren't practical for real-world usage. Instead, you can invest in Dogecoin and sell it when the price is high. That said, Dogecoin is accepted as a form of payment at more than 2,000 locations. You can also use Dogecoin to buy various products and services, such as luxury vehicles or vacation packages. You can even exchange your coins for prepaid Mastercard cards.
For all its intention as a meme-inspired cryptocurrency, Dogecoin has a few inspiring stories from all over the world.
In 2014, a community of supporters raised more than 26 million DOGE, helping the Jamaican bobsleigh team travel and participate in the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Winston Watt and Marvin Dixon were the pair who drove the sled. When news broke that Jamaica had qualified, Watt admitted that they didn't have enough funding to travel to Russia. As a result, Watt started a public PayPal account to raise the required $40,000.
The campaign quickly raked in a little more than 26 million DOGE. In fact, there were so many donors that it appeared to increase the currency's value; in just 12 hours, the DOGE-BTC exchange rate increased 50%.
To gather funds for the construction of water wells, the Dogecoin Foundation—a nonprofit organization established by the creators of Dogecoin—revealed they’ll host a fundraiser for Kenya’s water crisis in 2014. The fundraiser, Doge4Water, aimed to collect $50,000 to celebrate World Water Day to help the rural areas in eastern Kenya. The fundraiser managed to amass a total of $31,996.
Shortly after his appearance on Saturday Night Live in 2021, Elon Musk announced that his company SpaceX would launch a Falcon 9 rocket in collaboration with Geometric Energy Corp. Musk dubbed the rocket “Doge-1” and revealed that the entire mission would be paid for in Dogecoin and is expected to launch in December 2022. The project would cost around 129 million DOGE, or $62 million. Musk tweeted that the project would allow Dogecoin to be the first meme and the first cryptocurrency in space.
Dogecoin has been a target of past scam attempts in the crypto community. However, the cryptocurrency itself isn’t a scam. It started as a joke and earned the title of a “meme coin.” However, it functions just like any other cryptocurrency and has amassed an enthusiastic Dogecoin community.
Despite its large market cap, Dogecoin is still an extremely risky digital asset. Its value is proportional to its online hype and heavily depends on celebrities endorsing it. As a result, you should be careful with your investment practices if you decide to purchase DOGE. Other cryptocurrencies and investments have value built on more tangible fundamentals. Who’s to say if people still care about DOGE 10 years from now?
One cryptocurrency you don’t have to pay for is Worldcoin. We’re a new cryptocurrency company that aims to provide every human on the planet with a free share of our cryptocurrency. We’re also airdropping free DAI if you download the Worldcoin app, which is available on both the App Store and Google’s Play Store.
Subscribe to our blog to stay updated on the latest offers and news from Worldcoin and the rest of the crypto community.
An easy way to learn about different types of stablecoins and how they work. Subscribe to the Worldcoin blog for more cryptocurrency stories.
OpenSea allows users to buy, sell, and mint NFTs. Learn what OpenSea is, why it is important, and how it impacts the NFT ecosystem.
Crypto enthusiasts rely on objective sources to stay informed on Web3. Following high-quality crypto news websites can ensure all articles are fact-checked.
More people around the world are gravitating toward crypto. Find out which countries use the most cryptocurrency and how it may impact crypto’s future.