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Is Dogecoin a Legit Cryptocurrency?

Much coin, very wow. Is Dogecoin a legit cryptocurrency now?

By Buddy BrownPublished 5 years ago 6 min read
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Once in a blue moon, you'll hear about things that were invented on a whim that became incredibly important later on. It's rare, but it happens—and when it does, it makes the world wonder how things came to be.

In the cryptocurrency world, no digital currency is a better example of this than Dogecoin. This low cost cryptocurrency has been found on exchanges like Robinhood, as well as major cryptocurrency wallets.

At one point, it was nothing more than a joke currency that proved how crazy the blockchain technology boom really was. Now, Dogecoin creator Billy Markus is making serious moves with this currency.

In recent years, the Dogecoin Foundation started to show the world the real life impact of a cryptocurrency's rise to fame. It's making everyone ask, "Is Dogecoin a legit cryptocurrency?"

Let's first take a look at the origins of Dogecoin.

Dogecoin was created by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer in December of 2013. It was meant to be a joke currency that played off the then-popular Shiba Inu meme.

The internet meme was popular enough to boost the currency into the spotlight and helped give rise to the Dogecoin doge mascot. The two put together the Dogecoin.com website and then started to market their altcoin to the crypto world.

If you were to just look at the meme-based beginnings, it'd be hard to believe that people would ever think of Doge as legit.

Like many other cryptocurrencies, it had its ups and downs.

Dogecoin started to boom in 2013, when its initial price tripled, just as China's ban on mainstream cryptocurrencies took effect.

Miners came in to get some of those coins via the cryptocurrency's proof-of-work algorithm, and soon, a community was formed. Within months, millions of coins were already mined and in circulation.

At this point, it became clear that Dogecoin was a simple currency (and it remains to be one of the easiest coins to mine still today)—but it was clear that it was catching on. It was also in 2013 that the first mass Dogecoin theft occured, which stole millions of coins from peoples' Dogewallet accounts.

When Dogewallet got hacked, it looked like things were going to close... but then Dogecoin got legitimacy.

Is Dogecoin a legit cryptocurrency? It depends on what you'd suggest to be legit. For the most part, it is all based on what the user base thinks of them. Their opinion usually hinges on the support they get when things go wrong.

When the hack happened, the Dogecoin community started up a fundraiser to help the affected victims. The fundraiser, named "SaveDogemas" ended up repaying everyone who was a victim of the hack.

By January of 2014, the trading volume of Dogecoin shortly surpassed Bitcoin. Not too long after, the CEOs started to use it to fundraise for other causes.

How is Dogecoin a legit cryptocurrency? Well...

Dogecoin may have started off as a joke, but no one's laughing anymore. It's hard to deny the legitimacy of a currency that's had a real life impact on people in a positive way.

Eric Nakagawa created the Dogecoin Foundation to help make the world a better place through the use of cryptocurrency donations. So far, it's done a lot of good.

Since the start of fundraising in 2014, Dogecoin has helped fund the Jamaican Bobsledding Team to go to the Sochi Olympics, helped build a well in Kenya through Doge4Water, and even sponsored a NASCAR driver.

If you look at the stats, they're pretty impressive, too.

The hardest part about making a cryptocurrency legitimate is getting enough people to invest in it, trade it, and use it. Recently, Dogecoin announced that it had a market cap of $2 billion—an impressive number regardless of who you are.

Unlike Bitcoin, the reason why Dogecoin's market capitalization is so high isn't the high coin price. It's the high trading volume. Over 100 billion Dogecoins have been mined, and there's no limit to the amount that can be made.

This might mean it'll never reach Bitcoin cash levels of price, but it still means that it will continue to be used as the crypto world shows signs that the market is maturing. Approximately 100 billion coins don't just vanish without a trace, you know.

As of right now, Dogecoin is one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies out there.

There are literally hundreds of different cryptocurrencies on the market, and Dogecoin's visibility is what seems to be giving it a good name. Only six months ago, Dogecoin was ranked as the 35th most valuable cryptocurrency in the world.

It's also worth pointing out that Dogecoin recently got another credit to its legitimacy: an introduction on the Robinhood cryptocurrency exchange.

A team of people still work on offering Dogecoin support, too.

Another huge part of the legitimacy that Dogecoin has is the fact that there's a dedicated team of people working to ensure that the currency stays current—and safe for people to use.

Most "crap currencies" that hit the market failed because they had a team that didn't back it, or because they had a team that decided to pull an exit scam once the currency hit the market.

Dogecoin still has a very dedicated team of people behind it who still work to expand the currency's use. From that standpoint, you really shouldn't even have to ask, "Is Dogecoin a legit cryptocurrency?" anymore.

Then, there are also the other real life uses this currency has had.

So far, there have been several groups that have used Dogecoin to purchase goods and services. This coin has become very popular in the adult film world, and at one point, a couple even tried to do a real estate transaction with it.

Once again, if it wasn't a legitimate currency, this wouldn't happen!

Social media helped it gain the legitimacy it now has.

Unsurprisingly, this meme-based cryptocurrency has been made a social media darling. Among people who are denizens of the crypto world, it's not uncommon to hear of people using Dogecoin like an internet tipping system.

It makes sense; Dogecoin is affordable but also has that meme-y vibe. Even so, that simple use gave it a lot of followers who now have a regular use for it.

So, is Dogecoin a legit cryptocurrency?

A legitimate cryptocurrency has real life uses, a real team behind it, a high market cap, a large trading volume, and a good name for itself. Dogecoin, for all its goofy Shiba Inu faceness, has it. The answer, therefore, is yes, which makes for an exciting prospect if you're considering cryptocurrencies to buy over Bitcoin if you've already missed out on that market surge.

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About the Creator

Buddy Brown

Detroit-born Buddy Brown is a 80s hair metal fan who loves cars, games, and sports. When he’s not drinking PBR while listening to Downtown Brown, he’s playing Grand Theft Auto or working on his El Camino.

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