Dogecoin (DOGE) is the most famous meme coin around, an altcoin that was started in 2013 as a joke by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer.
The joke revolved around poking fun at the levels of speculation in the cryptocurrency market at the time, and Dogecoin was introduced as a fun and light-hearted digital currency that could be used to teach new investors about cryptocurrencies and let them experiment with the technology.
Dogecoin’s primary purpose was to be a digital currency for peer-to-peer payments, like bitcoin (BTC) but with broader appeal.
Dogecoin uses a Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism.
It’s designed similar to existing cryptocurrencies Litecoin and Luckycoin.
A Japanese Shiba Inu dog was used as the mascot for the cryptocurrency.
Initially, the community behind the project wasn’t so much interested in the asset’s price, but more so in experimenting with how the coin could be used to solve real problems.
For instance, Dogecoin (DOGE) was used for tipping on social media platforms, and it was used as a fundraising tool to raise money for charitable organizations.
However, it would later explode in popularity, making some of its users and investors very rich, fueling even more coverage on social media and online media.
It currently sits in the top 1o largest coins by market cap, with a market cap of almost USD $21 billion. It is the largest meme coin by market cap.
Shiba Inu (SHIB), the 2nd largest meme coin, and a dog coin, sits at a market cap of USD $14.8 billion.
Other popular meme coins include dogwifhat (WIF), Pepe (PEPE), Floki (FLOKI), and Bonk (BONK). As of January 2024, Coinmarketcap.com lists over 2100 different meme coins.