Dogecoin, or DOGE, is an open-source, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency featuring the image of a Shiba Inu, a Japanese dog breed, as its logo.

Its creators are Jackson Palmer, a product manager at Adobe Inc., and Billy Markus, a software developer at IBM, and it launched in December of 2013 as a “meme coin”, a joke based on the Shiba Inu internet meme which meant to satirize the all the revolving hype cryptocurrencies had were seeing at the time.

Dogecoin Explained

Social media gave the idea a big thumbs up and as positive feedback was flowing, the domain was bought and Dogecoin began its journey.

Dogecoin uses Litecoin’s underlying technology and has unlimited supply.

It has a loyal, heavily engaged community and its most common use is as tip on social media platforms such as Reddit and Twitter.

Its code is based on Luckycoin’s code, which, in turn, is based on Litecoin. It uses scrypt technology and can be categorized as a PoW (proof-of-work) coin.

While standard coins like Bitcoin are deflationary (meaning, there is a ceiling to them) Dogecoin isn’t.

It promoted itself as a “fun” version of Bitcoin and its community made sure of it by, for example, sponsoring the Jamaican bobsled team with over $11.000 USD (around 27 million Dogecoin at the time) which greatly contributed to their efforts in participating in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Dogecoin and Elon Musk

However, things took a turn when Jackson Palmer, one of the original founders, left on claims that a “toxic community” had formed around Dogecoin as it was seeing an increase in its price and people started taking it with a more serious tone.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, often endorses Dogecoin in his tweets.