About Dogecoin (DOGE)
Dogecoin was developed in 2013 by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus, who decided to create a tongue-in-cheek take on altcoins, which were steadily gaining popularity amongst crypto speculators at the time.
Dogecoin began as a “meme coin” that poked fun at the buzz around new altcoins entering the market. Initially, Dogecoin had little to no value, and it was initially used as a tipping mechanism to thank users on social media and online forums like Reddit.
One notable aspect of Dogecoin was that it borrowed the scrypt-based proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm used by the now-defunct Luckycoin, which borrowed much of its own technology from Litecoin.
PoW mechanisms create consensus using a network of computers that run the software. This allows anyone with a valid computing device and an internet connection to dedicate computing resources to become a validator on the Dogecoin network. In exchange, validators receive mining rewards in the form of additional Dogecoin. The PoW mechanism also ensures Dogecoin offers quick transactions and low fees, which contributed to its adoption by cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
The Dogecoin community is well-known and refer to themselves as “Shibes”. Today, Dogecoin is still used to tip online creators. It’s also used, albeit infrequently, for eCommerce, as users can buy goods and services using Dogecoin at select merchants.
Dogecoin launched with a maximum supply of 100 billion DOGE, though the cap has since been removed, making the supply essentially limitless.