In December of 2013, one bitcoin was worth approximately a thousand dollars, and the world was starting to grasp the concept of cryptocurrency. 2 software engineers, Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus had different ideas. They thought cryptocurrency could be for fun, instead of purely money. They decided to make their own cryptocurrency, based off of an internet meme called dogecoin. Dogecoin was released on the 6th of December in 2013. Sure enough, it gained huge popularity and a loyal fanbase on the internet. Its fans now call themselves shibes, and speak in their own “dialect”, which has phrases like “such cute” and “much wow”. Dogecoin has maintained a steady following since its launch, and its fans have often donated to good causes, for instance:
In 2014, the Dogecoin community raised $50,000 to help send the Jamaican Bobsled Team to the Sochi Winter Olympics.
For World Water Day (March 22nd, 2014), they raised $30,000 to help build clean-water wells in the Tana Valley, Kenya.
One dogecoin is worth approximately $0.1 (a cent) as of today. The value boomed after Elon Musk talked about it on his Twitter and is only predicted to go higher. Dogecoin, like every other cryptocurrency in the world, is based on blockchain which means it can be mined.
A cryptocurrency can be stored in both physical and software wallets, which is how it works with Dogecoin.
There 4 kinds of dogecoin wallets:
1) Online wallets : Wallets that you can access through the internet e.g Coinomi
2) Software wallets: Wallets stored locally on your computer e.g Multidoge
3) Paper wallets: These are printable wallets and are very secure
4) Hardware wallets: These are the most secure wallets, and the most expensive too. A good example would be the ledger Nano.
Dogecoin can be purchased through an exchange. When you purchase dogecoin through an exchange you have to pay a small transaction fee, just like any other crypto. You can also obtain some amount of free dogecoin through a dogecoin faucet by doing small tasks like watching videos etcetera.
Blockchain technology is extremely secure. The Dogecoin blockchain has never been hacked. However, all cryptocurrencies including dogecoin- are in danger of 51% attacks. A 51% attack is when more than half of a blockchain comes under the control of one group. Were this to happen, that group could add invalid transactions to the blockchain. This would be a major fraud and would be bad for any cryptocurrency that fell victim to it. When Dogecoin launched, it was at risk of a 51% attack. Dogecoin’s developers built a merged mining operation with Litecoin in 2014. The two currencies can now be mixed together, which has significantly improved the security. The developers of Dogecoin haven’t made any major updates to the coin since 2015. One of Dogecoin’s developers, Ross Nicoll, stated that they have been working on an update. This update should make the platform safer and more stable, which could lead to a rise in its value.
