Original Article Title: "The 'Meme King' Across Cycles—How Was DOGE Created?"
Original Article Author: Wenser, Odaily
BlockBeats Note: On November 13th, Trump stated in a recent announcement that he would collaborate with Elon Musk and American patriot Vivekramaswamy to establish the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The abbreviation of the department's name coincides with the meme coin DOGE, increasing people's bullish expectations for DOGE. Possibly influenced by this news, DOGE quickly surged above $0.41, with a 24-hour gain of 15.8%. Subsequently, Musk released the logo of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and tweeted, "Making Government Fun Again!"
Below is the original content:
Following the "Trump Effect" sweeping the cryptocurrency market, driving BTC's price close to $90,000, the "Musk Effect" also arrived. As the former "DOGE Father," the most driven naturally was the "First Meme Coin"—DOGE. According to Coingecko website data, DOGE's market value skyrocketed in just two days, rapidly surpassing XRP and USDC, currently ranking sixth in cryptocurrency market capitalization with over $63 billion.
Odaily will briefly analyze and explain DOGE's recent trend and the future development trend of Memecoin in this article for reference.
"First Meme Coin": The Meme Coin King Across Four Cycles
As we mentioned in the article "3-Minute Overview of Meme Coin History: Past and Future,"—
"The DOGE prototype Kabosu started gaining widespread popularity on the globally renowned online forums 4chan and Reddit in the summer of 2013. Leveraging this cultural trend, Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus released Dogecoin (i.e., DOGE) on December 8, 2013, on the Bitcointalk forum—it was the first cryptocurrency based on an internet meme."
The success of Dogecoin has brought about a new category of coins, which are unconventional, humorous, ironic, and use features such as celebrities (like Kanye West, Max Keiser), animals (like Pandacoin), or attempts to attract specific communities as a Meme. These were all coins launched on Bitcointalk's "Alternative Cryptocurrency" subforum in a proof-of-work (PoW) manner. "Specifications" became less important, while "Meme" became more important.
Launched in 2013 and spanning nearly 4 cryptocurrency cycles (Odaily Note: with a boundary of every 4 years, namely 2012-2015, 2016-2019, 2020-2023, 2024 ~) until this year when the DOGE prototype Shiba Inu Kabosu passed away in May, DOGE has always been an indispensable part of the cryptocurrency market. In particular, it has become the oldest meme coin in this round of the "Meme Coin SuperCycle," and it is also one of the very few meme coins in the top 10 cryptocurrency market cap, with its historical significance and market performance equally significant. Specifically, its value is reflected in three main aspects:
Firstly, DOGE is synonymous with Meme Coins
Undoubtedly, if there is a meme coin project with the widest dissemination, the greatest impact, and the highest recognition, it is none other than DOGE. This is not only because of its long history and the positive support it has received from the currently hot "Trump fan" Elon Musk but also because of its highly viral and low-threshold-to-understand "original Meme" — the Shiba Inu Kabosu. As the saying goes, "Who would refuse such a cute and adorable dog?" One of the advertising world's revered "3B principles" is Beast — animals, and in this regard, DOGE is a vivid example.
In other words, when new market participants enter, the best choice presented to countless newcomers is DOGE. This can also be seen from the recent surge in Google searches for Bitcoin — if Bitcoin is the flag that can be seen at first glance when entering the cryptocurrency world, then DOGE is the "key" to stepping into the realm of cryptocurrency. Regarding the advantages of the entry barrier of meme coins and other aspects, we also mentioned them in the article "Meme Coins: A Complete Alternative to NFTs" before, which you can refer to if interested.
Secondly, DOGE is the Ceiling of Meme Coins
From the perspective of the Meme Coin "ceiling," DOGE reached a market capitalization peak of around 88 billion US dollars (according to Coingecko data, generated in early May 2021), and its price once surged to around 0.73 US dollars. Compared to other cryptocurrency projects with market capitalizations in the hundreds of billions or even over a trillion US dollars, DOGE can be considered an "industry miracle."
As a new crypto cycle approaches, benefiting from bullish news such as Trump being elected as the new US president and Musk joining the Trump administration to participate in political and economic decision-making, the momentum of DOGE's development is expected to surpass its previous peak. A 100 billion US dollar market cap is within reach. At that time, it is bound to once again become the "most prominent Meme Coin" in the cryptocurrency world.
Similarly, DOGE has also set a great example for highly active Meme Coin projects in the market such as PEPE, FLOKI, BONK, etc. - "Meme Coins can also compete with various value coins and VC coins without falling behind," a crucial point for crypto players who urgently need to build confidence and even faith in Meme Coins, especially for new investors entering the scene.
Thirdly, DOGE is the Meme Coin "Barometer"
The reason why DOGE is considered a Meme Coin barometer is that it has recently become the "leader" of the Meme Coin warming trend.
On October 31, on the eve of the US presidential election, Musk tweeted, "Our system is upside down, making it difficult for high-quality talents to enter the US legally while criminals can easily enter illegally. Why is it easier to enter illegally than legally? Trump and DOGE will solve this problem." (Odaily Star Daily Note: DOGE can refer to the Meme Coin DOGE, or it can refer to Musk's previously mentioned government efficiency department D.O.G.E.)
On November 2, Robinhood Crypto EU announced that Robinhood Crypto now supports DOGE token transfers, deposits, and withdrawals.
On November 6, as the dust settled on the US election and with Musk's generous assistance, Trump successfully won the US election. A clever investor quickly increased their holdings by 6.01 million Ethereum Meme Coins DOGE, accumulating a floating profit of 2.045 million US dollars. At the same time, DOGE broke through 0.2 USDT that day, with a 24-hour increase of 19.18%, continuing to rise all the way from a market cap of around 16 billion US dollars to nearly 64 billion US dollars today, equivalent to a fourfold increase in a month. No wonder even Bloomberg exclaimed, "Trump's election sparked a speculative frenzy in the crypto market, with DOGE rising by about 50% in the past 5 days, outperforming BTC."
Meanwhile, a plethora of dog-themed meme coins, including DOGE, have also been on the rise, with recent price performance being quite impressive.
Furthermore, as mentioned in our article "A National Celebration, with a Market Cap of Only 2.5%, How Big Can the Meme Coin Market Get?": "When DOGE reached its previous market cap peak, Bitcoin was only around $57,361; the overall cryptocurrency market cap was only $2.3 trillion... In the future, with the fervor of a national celebration, it is entirely possible for meme coin projects with market caps of 1-3 100 billion to emerge, and the overall market cap of the meme coin sector may have the potential to surpass $300-500 billion."
The Future of Meme Coins: Riding the Market Trend Towards the Vast Unknown
Looking at past performance, although the Meme Coin PVP is currently intense, the Meme Coin supercycle belonging to more cryptocurrency players is still in the preparatory stage, which naturally relies heavily on many driving forces that have a significant impact on the market—policy endorsements, capital inflows, information dissemination, and real-world use cases.
· Policy Endorsements: The Trump administration coming into power will help shape a "crypto-friendly government." In the short term, the "Trump effect" directly stimulated the price of Bitcoin to consecutively break new highs, and in the long term, its most important value lies in the creation and stable operation of a "crypto-friendly government." According to a report by Galaxy: "Under the leadership of the Trump administration, various exemptions favorable to the cryptocurrency industry are expected to be introduced soon." Standard Chartered Bank also stated in a research report that the Republican Party's sweeping victory would enable the new government to implement positive policies for the digital asset field, potentially inflating the total cryptocurrency market cap to $10 trillion by the end of 2026.
· Capital Inflows: Funds continue to flow into Bitcoin spot ETFs, with the BlackRock Bitcoin spot ETF (IBIT) surpassing its gold ETF (IAU) within just 10 months. With the continued stimulus of the Fed's interest rate cuts, it is believed that more funds will flow into the crypto market, further boosting the meme coin sector, including DOGE, and the overall cryptocurrency market cap.
· Information Dissemination: As the "DOGE Father," Musk naturally brings a halo effect, continuously creating and triggering high global attention. At the same time, traditional search engines like Google, as well as emerging AI application platforms like Grok and ChatGPT, will provide convenient sources and channels for the continuous production and dissemination of meme coin-related information.
· On the practical use case side, on the one hand, the charity donation use case of Meme coins has attracted more and more attention and adoption. The roller-coaster journey of the TikTok-famous hippo-themed Meme coin MOODENG, as well as the series of funny events such as the project's shoutout to Ethereum founder Vitalik to "stop dumping, let's do charity ourselves" after Vitalik was sent funds, have vividly illustrated the "practical value" of Meme coins. On the other hand, as Meme coins continue to break through, similar use cases such as Tesla's support for DOGE token payments will further develop. Additionally, the development of the Solana ecosystem's cat-themed Meme coin sector is also highly noteworthy—previously, the Solana ecosystem Meme coin project WEN spent a considerable amount to acquire a cat-themed account @ShouldHaveCat with over 4.03 million fans on X platform. Another Meme coin, MEW, recently also exceeded a $1 billion market cap, reaching a new high.
Summary
Lastly, returning to DOGE, Kabosu's owner—who later adopted another Shiba Inu named Neiro—had previously stirred up a storm in the Meme coin field. The "uppercase-lowercase dispute" involving Neiro had attracted high attention from the cryptocurrency industry (for more details, refer to the article "Neiro and NEIRO listed on Binance, Is it a Turning Point for Meme Coins?"). For DOGE, its audience's attention lies not only in the cryptocurrency industry but also in a series of hot topics related to figures like Musk, who are considered "influential centers."
Furthermore, after Trump assumed the U.S. presidency, Musk's Tesla and SpaceX are expected to receive more government orders and a series of policy-related benefits. By then, DOGE may truly embark on its "space journey," leading a group of Meme descendants to set sail for the distant stars and seas.
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