In the crypto community, everyone says that there are two types of cryptocurrency, the good one that increases in value over time, and bad coins that are a joke and have no future. Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc., are in the first camp, and Dogecoin is in the second camp.
Dogecoin started in 2013 as a joke to mock the cryptocurrency mania of that time. As a result, many don’t like this coin. Since 2013, thousands of coins have been created and vanished. Still, Dogecoin managed to survive even though it did not have any value up until 2020.
So, how did Dogecoin manage to survive and become one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies in the world when other good projects failed?
Dogecoin is still alive because it’s hard to eliminate open source software, support from Litecoin miners, Dogecoin’s vibrant community, branding, and ease of use of this cryptocurrency.
Let’s elaborate.
Dogecoin’s logo is designed after the famous Japanese Dog breed Shiba Inu dog and is named after a meme.
Every new technology frightens people and is met with resistance. In the 1960s, there was unequivocal evidence that seat belts save lives. But car companies fought over a decade so that the senate does not pass any bill making seat belts mandatory for vehicles.
When the federal law was passed that made seat belts mandatory, people protested against this law. Even though we know seat belts save people from severe injuries during accidents, people defied this law.
When the iPhone came out, the younger generation jumped in to embrace the iPhone. However, the older generation failed to see how revolutionary the iPhone is. Thus many company executives, including Microsoft and Blackberry, mocked the iPhone.
Warren Buffet never used an iPhone in his life. He still uses a feature phone. In his own words, he doesn’t understand the technology, and that’s why he never invested in any technological company. Because of his lack of understanding, he says cryptocurrency is rat poison.
Unfortunately, many technological people, too, don’t understand the future of cryptocurrency. For example, Bill Gates, in an interview with CNBC told that he doesn’t like cryptocurrency, and if there were an easy way to short crypto, he would have done it.
We can see that even the most notable persons do not understand crypto technology. Therefore, it’s not hard to imagine that many non-tech people will avoid cryptocurrency too.
Blockchain is a complex technology, and many don’t understand it.
Dogecoin tackles this technology fear with memes and jokes. Dogecoin has the second largest community after Bitcoin. For example, Dogecoin sub-Reddit has more followers than any other crypto except for Bitcoin. Though until 2020, this coin had no value, still millions of people supported this coin. They’re in it because of memes and fun.
We have seen many people whose first intro in the cryptocurrency world was through Dogecoin. It’s a currency that’s approachable. The price of each token is so low that even people with no money can buy some Doge tokens and play with them.
The Dogecoin initially was for only tipping service. On Reddit and other social platforms, people used Dogecoin to tip one another for good comments. It created a positive community surrounding it. Over the years, they also did many charitable works.
People also created Doge faucets. These websites gave away free Dogecoin for those who are in need. Because of these positive vibes and philanthropic community, Dogecoin grew, never died, and survived all these years.
Dogecoin is a fork of Litecoin. As a result, miners can mine both Litecoin and Dogecoin at the same time. As Litecoin grew over the years, Dogecoin never suffered any technological problems.
Miners can mine 5 billion coins/year. This number will never go down. As a result, there’s always an incentive for miners to keep the Dogecoin network running.
As we can see, because of the large community and support from miners, Dogecoin survived all these years.
As of this moment, Dogecoin is not widely accepted as Bitcoin or Ethereum. That’s why many in the crypto community say that this coin is useless and has no future. However, Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, disagrees.
According to Elon Musk, Dogecoin is underestimated, and its simplicity is its genuineness.
Elon Musk is the founder of X.com, the precursor of PayPal. Therefore, he knows what he is talking about. In a tweet in February 2021, Elon Musk indicated that Dogecoin would dominate other cryptocurrencies in the future. Doge survived all these years not because of luck but because of its strength.
Nowadays, Bitcoin is considered as an asset, not as a transactional currency. Because of its limited supply and popularity, everyone wants Bitcoin. Over the years, its price increased dramatically. Therefore, many people want to buy Bitcoin and hold onto it for a few years. As a result, the total number of Bitcoin in circulation is decreasing. Therefore, Bitcoin is not a transactional currency.
On the other hand, Dogecoin is inherently inflationary. Therefore, it encourages spending and discourages hoarding. From the start, Dogecoin was designed to be transactional crypto. Because of this, Dogecoin never went away.
Except for a few, most of the cryptocurrency is open source. Anyone can download, store, and redistribute the code. It’s impossible to remove all traces of an open-source codebase. Even though original developers of Dogecoin left the project in 2015, other developers jumped in to keep it alive because of the popularity of this coin.
The Dogecoin mining software is also freely available online. Anyone with a decent computer can mine Doge. No special hardware is required, unlike Bitcoin. Therefore, investment for mining this crypto is minimal.
Because of all the reasons described above, Dogecoin survived all these years and will continue to thrive in the future.
