By: Elena Kireeva
Dogecoin is a popular meme coin in the cryptocurrency space. The first ever “Dog Coin” was first announced on Twitter in November 2013 by the first of its co-founders, Jackson Palmer, a former Adobe software engineer. Co-founder Billy Markus, formerly an IBM software engineer, joined Jackson soon after work began on the Dogecoin project.
Why Did Dogecoin Launch?
The globally recognized meme coin started as a parody in response to stigma within the Bitcoin community after the legal injunctions delivered to Silk Road, which brought attention to the world’s first official digital asset due to its use in trafficking drugs, prostitution and other illegal activities. Jackson Palmer persisted with the “joke” after friends and industry colleagues expressed immense support of the idea. The first of the DOGE co-founders eventually left the cryptocurrency project in 2014, and has since been vocal about his stance on crypto being controlled by a powerful group of wealthy figures, amongst other published opinions.
While the first official dog meme coin would have eventual meteoric success, the first several years in the making were centered around development and catching the attention of investors, as there had not yet been an official meme coin market that had any substantial tracking prior to DOGE. Dogecoin was thought by its founding team to be a significantly lighter entry into the cryptocurrency space, as Bitcoin mining had become increasingly difficult to take part in with typical laptops available to consumers on the open market. DOGE ultimately filled a place that was not yet recognized, and other coins would follow suit in years to come.
The Trend Of Dogecoin
To date, there are believed to be well over 20 active dog coins in addition to the original - DOGE. Some of the coins simply put baby in front of the coin names and fork from other existing coins, while others invest a bit more ingenuity and originality in order to launch and compete for attention in the cryptocurrency trading and investing space. The most recognized of the dog coins today by most standards, including market capitalization and current trade volume are Shiba Inu, Baby Dogecoin, Dogelon Mars, Floki Inu and Kishu Inu.
Most notably of all the dog coins to be released after DOGE, Shiba Inu launched in August 2020 and gained major traction close to a year after launch, when the popular meme coin was referenced by Elon Musk. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is known for his relationships with the dog coins that dates back to early 2021 when the world’s wealthiest man tweeted about them. Elon Musk first openly endorsed DOGE prior to Shiba Inu, along with other celebrities such as Snoop Dogg and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Recent DOGE News
Recently, in June 2022, a DOGE investor filed an official suit against Musk for what was referred to as running a pyramid scheme. In the details of the filing, Keith Johnson references a total $86 billion dollars in losses absorbed by DOGE investors since the beginning of Musk’s promotion of DOGE. The suit was requested by Mr. Johnson to be filed as a class action lawsuit that could benefit other DOGE investors alike. The $258 billion sought in the filing is made up of the $86 billion in total losses, along with double - $172 billion in damages.
At the time of writing DOGE is trading at $.0628, with a 24 trade volume well over $335 billion, up 16%. The all-time high Dogecoin price is $.7315, reached over a year ago on May 8, 2021.
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